Vice President Annette Lu (
"All evidence has proved that I was the first target to be shot (on March 19), yet many people still promoted their theories against me, which makes me feel like I'm being assassinated again," Lu said yesterday at a Presidential Office reception for a Singapore think tank.
Despite theories by the police and other government investigators that the shooter was aiming at President Chen Shui-bian (
She said the disputes over the shooting incident and their effect on the presidential election should be treated as a serious issue by all countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and thanked her guests for their expressions of concern.
Lu stressed that the obstacles to Taiwan's democratic development can hardly be imagined by people of other countries, citing her experiences of being jailed for participating in opposition activities and developing cancer due to her intense commitment to leading the nation's feminist movement.
"I had never thought that I would be shot on the eve of the election," Lu said, "and I was able to survive because of a miracle."
She said that the country's democracy, freedom, progress and prosperity are not presents given by the gods, but are hard-won fruits earned by the efforts of all Taiwanese people.
"Taiwan is an independent country, whether other countries in the world admit it or not," she said, "and our efforts to seek democracy and peace will not surrender to any violence or military threat."
"The international community and some individual countries always adopt their own perspective to understand Taiwan, so I would like to provide the Taiwanese view to assist those foreign guests and countries in understanding Taiwan," Lu said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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