A woman upset by the way the DPP has treated her complaints against party Legislator Parris Chang (
According to local media yesterday, Betty Wong (汪鳳英), Chang's former aide, was discovered shortly after swallowing the pills by a magazine reporter assigned to watch her.
Wong was taken to the hospital, where she was listed as being in stable condition.
PHOTO: HSIEH TUNG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Ho Bih-jen (
In addition, Ho said the party had offered Wong legal assistance, but the woman had consistently refused.
In June, Wong said Chang had recently ended their extra-marital affair. She said Chang was a frequent womanizer and asked the DPP to probe Chang's behavior and discipline him by demanding he step down from his post.
But the DPP last week concluded that it is up to the law to determine whether Chang was guilty of any wrongdoing. The party also said it could not do anything about Wong's claims that Chang had sexually harassed other women, since no other complaints had been filed.
At the time, Wong said that "if Chang doesn't step down from his post, it is I who shall die."
According to the media, Wong has been living with a female reporter for Scoop Weekly magazine (獨家報導). The president of the weekly, Shen Yeh (沈野), said the reporter had been living with Wong to try to prevent her from doing anything rash.
However, the reporter said on TV yesterday that when she left Wong alone briefly, around noon, she swallowed the pills.
"When I came back I found her crying. I asked her if she took any drugs and she said swallowed about 70 sleeping pills," the reporter said. "I suggested that she be sent to the hospital but she refused."
Wong left seven letters to people including Chang, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (
In the letter to Chang, Wong said she would await him "at the bottom of the inferno," the media reported.
The Green Party's director of international affairs, Linda Arrigo, DPP legislator Chou Ya-shu (
Arrigo alleged that Parris Chang constantly sexually haras-ses women and said that she was also a victim. Chang has sued Wong and Arrigo for libel.
ESCALATING TENSIONS: The US called for restraint and meaningful dialogue after Beijing threatened Taiwanese independence advocates with the death sentence The US on Monday condemned China’s “escalatory and destabilizing language and actions” toward Taiwan after Beijing last week announced new guidelines to punish supporters of Taiwanese independence. Asked about the guidelines, which included the death sentence for “diehard” independence advocates, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We strongly condemn the escalatory and destabilizing language and actions from PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials.” “We continue to urge restraint and no unilateral change to the status quo,” he said at the press briefing. The US urges China to “engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan,” Miller said, adding that “threats and legal
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
WATER CONCERNS: The CWA encouraged people to conserve water, as fewer typhoons would bring less rain, and the plum rain season brought in only 60% of average rainfall About two to four typhoons are forecast to come close to Taiwan between now and November, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, as it also forecast that extreme heat would persist throughout the week, only dropping by 1°C after Friday. The number of typhoons is slightly lower than the average of three to five, reflecting a weakening El Nino weather pattern and the possibility of a La Nina pattern approaching, CWA Weather Forecast Center Director Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良) told a news conference in Taipei. While typically fewer typhoons develop under such conditions, their routes would be more likely to pass near
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall