Weng Ping-yao (翁炳堯) yesterday said he was instructed by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (CUPI, 正崴) chairman Gou Tai-chiang (郭台強) to kill then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) amid a power struggle a decade ago as groups fought for control of the party’s assets.
Weng — who was convicted of firing a gun outside Tsai’s office in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) on July 28, 2007 — said that KMT officials promised him NT$320 million (US$10.56 million at the current exchange rate) to kill the lawmaker.
He implicated Ma and Gou — who is the younger brother of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘); — as well as Lor Yu-chen (羅玉珍), the wife of Gou Tai-chiang; former Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影) vice president Chuang Wan-chun (莊婉均); and KMT stalwart Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教).
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Accompanied by attorney Chou Wu-jung (周武榮), Weng went to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, saying he wanted to confess to perjury and to ask prosecutors to reopen the investigation of the shooting.
Weng said he has evidence regarding “the plot to bump off Alex Tsai.”
After telling reporters that he would file a lawsuit against “the masterminds of the plot,” Weng entered the prosecutors’ office.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
He was released later in the day, with instructions not to leave his residence.
Weng told reporters that he was just “a hired gun, a small potato” in the case and wanted the truth to come out.
The KMT at the time of the shooting was electing members to its Central Standing Committee and other executive positions.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
There was an intense power struggle over party assets, with the sale of CMPC and other KMT-controlled media companies at the center of a clash between Ma, who was president and KMT chairman at the time, and Tsai, who was the chairman of CMPC at the time, Weng said.
“Tsai refused to resign as CMPC chairman, so Ma struck a deal with Gou Tai-chiang, Lor and Chuang according to which those three would take control of CMPC,” Weng said.
“I was instructed to bump off Tsai,” he said. “It was reasoned that if Tsai was killed, then Gou Tai-chiang would become CMPC chairman.”
Weng said that Lee, who at the time was speaker of the Tainan County Council, brokered the deal to hire him to carry out the assassination.
Weng has a checkered past as a gang member in Tainan and has managed companies in Vietnam.
“I was promised a payment of NT$320 million if I killed Tsai,” he said. “That amount was agreed upon, as it was 10 percent of CMPC’s assessed value of NT$3.2 billion.”
He said the deal broke down when he was asked to also kill Wu Chien-pao (吳健保), a leading KMT figure in Tainan, but was convicted for his involvement in an underground baseball gambling syndicate.
With the deal breaking down, Weng only fired shots at Tsai’s office, he said.
He said he was cheated out of money, only receiving NT$20 million.
“During the trial, I gave false accounts and mislead prosecutors to protect Ma, Gou Tai-chiang and others, but now I want to clear up the facts of the case and let the public know the real masterminds behind the plot,” Weng said.
Ma’s office spokeswoman Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said there is no factual basis and no evidence to Weng’s allegations, adding that Ma had nothing to do with the shooting incident at Tsai’s office.
“It is absurd to the extreme that Ma should be a defendant in this case,” Hsu said. “Ma was not involved, but some people just want to stir up trouble.”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS