A veteran entertainer yesterday slapped Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) in the face, saying she was upset with the minister’s attempts to “discredit” Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
The incident occurred at a lunar year-end banquet in Taipei attended by veteran entertainers to mark the end of the Year of the Dog, the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine reported.
The minister was going from table to table toasting the attendees when Lisa Cheng (鄭心儀), 67, slapped her in the face and then returned to her seat, footage taken at the event showed.
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
Cheng Li-chiun gasped and put her hand on her cheek, looking surprised and confused.
Asked why she hit Cheng Li-chiun, Lisa Cheng, who is also known as Cheng Hui-chung (鄭惠中), said: “I had intended to slap her twice. I had been thinking about this for months... I went easy on her by slapping her just once.”
Lisa Cheng said that she “had to do it,” because meeting the minister was a “rare occasion.”
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
The minister has been “ungrateful” by pushing policies to abolish Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and ignoring the Chiangs’ contributions to the nation, she said, adding that Cheng Li-chiun “had it coming.”
The minister declined to comment on the attack when leaving the venue, but later wrote on Facebook that she did not personally know Lisa Cheng.
While Taiwanese society embraces diversity and freedom of speech, people should not use violence to express their opinion, she wrote.
Her personal humiliation was insignificant next to safeguarding Taiwanese democracy, Cheng Li-chiun wrote, urging the public not to resort to violence when discussing public issues.
Accompanied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), Lisa Cheng later told a news conference at the Taipei City Council that she had lost control of her emotions because of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s policies aimed at “discrediting the Chiangs.”
She said she would apologize to the minister, but would not apologize for her position on the memorial.
Leo Chuang (莊豐嘉), general manager of Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視), which hosted the banquet, said at a separate news conference that the network would sue Lisa Cheng on behalf of the minister, adding that it denounces any form of violence.
The Ministry of Culture last year held a series of workshops to discuss transforming the memorial, but has not said whether it would demolish or abolish it.
Last month, the ministry said that it had drafted two options for repurposing the memorial, which would be submitted to the Executive Yuan for interdepartmental discussions before they are made public.
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify