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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS