With mudslinging among the presidential candidates intensifying, independent James Soong (
The first case came yesterday as Soong was accused of libel by the younger brother of a presidential aide, who claims that Soong defamed him by bringing up an old accusation he had already been cleared of legally.
Su Chih-jen
Su Chih-jen said yesterday that a 1996 court ruling had cleared him of any malfeasance. Former legislator Ju Kao-cheng (
Su is asking the court for NT$20 million from Soong, whom he alleged was trying to cover up his own scandals by diverting public attention.
"Soong has been avoiding giving straight answers to questions about his financial transactions. Now he simply wants to dodge the issue by trying to put the spotlight on people who are totally irrelevant. This is all a ploy aimed at the media," Su said.
Last December, KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (
Tu Yu-ming (
He also claimed Soong was making the remarks on the basis of media reports, not out of personal malice.
Yen Jung-chang (
"It's up to the voters to clear Soong of these malicious accusations," he said.
Independent legislator Lin Ruey-tu
Lin's remarks did not directly implicate Soong in corruption, but they have become a point on which the other candidates have focused.
The Presidential Office, meanwhile, issued a rare, sternly worded statement condemning Soong
Soong's comments on procurement referred to a recently released Rand Corporation report which suggested that Taiwan's defense policy and procurement decision-making processes are poorly coordinated both within the top leadership and between the civilian and military elite.
The Presidential Office statement said Soong's remarks about the report were inappropriate and a serious insult to both the Presidential Office and all servicemen.
Noting that the government has consistently conducted very careful and prudent evaluations of all arms deals, the statement stressed that Taiwan has drawn up weaponry procurement plans based on defense needs and arsenal modernization projects.
"It is regrettable that Soong has deliberately disseminated the erroneous Rand Corporation report even after the Ministry of National Defense and other relevant government agencies had refuted it," the statement said, adding that Soong should assume legal responsibility for airing false allegations against the government.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
SOVEREIGNTY EMPHASIZED: President William Lai said that Taiwan ‘absolutely will not sign’ an agreement with Beijing implying that the nation is part of China Taiwan hopes to join like-minded nations under the democratic umbrella and jointly counter authoritarian aggression, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a prerecorded speech during the annual Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday. Lai addressed the summit via video at Concordia’s invitation, using the opportunity to speak on the issue of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758. Lai’s comments came on the heels of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday. China has “distorted” UN Resolution 2758 “in support of its ‘one China’ principle,” he said. Through its misinterpretation