People First Party Legislator Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) made public yesterday more "evidence" to back up her allegation that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was in cahoots with China, despite open questioning of her sanity by colleagues.
After accusing Chen of accepting an NT$140 million campaign contribution from Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
According to Chin, who based her allegation on a pile of documents that she claimed had been verified again and again, Jiang had offered Chen a 5 percent share of three US-China-backed semiconductor fabs. In addition, the Chinese president offered Chen another 5 percent share of a petrochemical complex that the Formosa Plastics Group (
In another part of the story, Chin also said that two people arrested by Chinese authorities for stealing the secret documents had been killed on Tuesday, the first day she made public these materials.
Officials at the Presidential Office, who have denied Chin's allegations before, yesterday said the charges deserve no attention at all.
"Her [Chin's] remarks are so illogical that not even high school students will believe in it," said Yu Shyi-kun, secretary-general to the Presidential Office.
Some DPP politicians said Chin has "lost her mind."
"I think she is sick in a very serious way," DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (
Chin yesterday insisted that all the documents -- including letters allegedly sent by Chen to Jiang, a receipt and agreements signed between them -- were authentic.
"Some high-ranking officials at investigation agencies have told me in private that the materials are all authentic. But they dare not take any action, because it is the head of state whom they are facing," Chin said.
Chin said she had also checked with national security agencies, and was told that they do not conduct surveillance on the president.
"The president is the most powerful leader in the country who controls the executive, judicial and intelligence system. No law will reach the president under these circumstances," Chin argued.
Chin compared this case to another one in which former president Lee Teng-hui (
"If the KMT and the communists had not admitted it, the media would have had no idea as to what to believe. The key factor is whether the people in power are willing to admit it," Chin said.
On public doubts as to why China would opt to support a presidential candidate from the pro-independence DPP in the first place, Chin said this was because of the strong recommendation of Formosa Chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) and his son, Winston Wang (王文洋).
"But up until today, Chinese authorities don't trust Chen 100 percent. This was also the reason why they kept making Chen sign agreements and guarantee documents, which have become tools to secure their control over Chen," Chin said.
Chin has alleged that the father and son had acted as secret cross-strait envoys for Chen. Winston Wang has filed slander charges against Chin over the allegation.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS