The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday published a document countering the allegations contained in a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) pamphlet which questioned the legitimacy of President Chen Shui-bian's (
The DPP's document, a four-page handout entitled "Let the evidence speak," said the "Bulletgate" pamphlet on Taiwan's presidential election, prepared by the KMT's National Policy Foundation and sent to every member of the US Congress by "Ambassador" Jason Yuan (袁健生) of the KMT-PFP Representative Office in Washington, is full of unsubstantiated accusations.
The handouts offered a five-point rebuttal to refute the charges contained in the KMT pamphlet, including the investigation of the March 19 shooting incident, polling results from before and after the shooting, rebuttal the KMT's charge of widespread vote fraud, the legitimacy of the referendum, and the purpose of the constitutional re-engineering project initiated by Chen.
As 90 percent of "Bulletgate" talks about the assassination attempt on President Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
The DPP also said in the handouts that Chen has agreed to start the political investigation in order to "provide the people of Taiwan with more concrete answers that deals [sic] with the political and not the criminal aspect[s] of the incident."
The political investigation will be conducted by the March 19 Special Investigative Committee, headed by Frederick Chien (錢復). The DPP said Chien's heading the committee is expected to be credible as he is the current president of the Control Yuan and "a respected former KMT leader who served in many capacities, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Taiwan's Representative in Washington."
In addition to Chien's endorsing Chen's sincerity for conducting political investigation of the shooting incident, the DPP said KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
In response to the KMT pamphlet's charges that the March 19 shooting incident had altered voters' behavior and given "sympathy" votes to Chen, the DPP said poll results showed 80.8 percent of voters didn't think they were influenced by the shooting, while "92.4 percent of voters did not show behavioral changes in the election."
The DPP also cited the recount to refute the vote-rigging accusations by the KMT.
"After March 20, the judicial recount proved to be the first example of the largest judicial scale process [sic] in Taiwan's history. This fair and impartial process, open to the media, proved that our election was fair ... The ratio of a separate category of ballots, invalid ones of which there were 300,000 due to stricter regulations for this election, runs 2:1 for Chen over [KMT Chairman] Lien Chan (
The DPP's handout also countered the "Bulletgate" claims that Chen's push for reforming the constitution is intended to create a "Republic of Taiwan," asserting the constitutional reengineering project aims to "deepen Taiwan democratization" and does not touch on national sovereignty, territory and the subject of unification/independence.
The DPP reiterated that Chen is honoring his "five noes" pledge made in 2000.
In conclusion, the party "urges everyone to Believe in Taiwan [sic]" and not be let the unsubstantiated accusations of "Bulletgate" taint Taiwan's international image.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS