Former presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) said yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had told him and several other pro-independence stalwarts that he was forced to show receipts on the use of a special fund because "the outside world was accusing me as if I were a suspect of embezzlement."
Wu said he and former senior advisers Koo Kwang-ming (
Wu said Chen showed them receipts on how he had used the special state affairs fund to "prove his innocence," and "we believe he is innocent."
If any violations of the law have taken place, they should be handled by the judicial authorities, they said.
Last Tuesday, the Ministry of Audit said the administration had refused to present sufficient information for auditors to verify the legality of the expenditures from the NT$48 million (US$1.46 million) president's special allowance fund.
The watchdog agency said there might have been irregularities in Chen's usage of the fund.
WANG WEIGHS IN
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"I don't know what the president has shown to other people, but what I was shown was all confidential information," Wang said.
"If there is disclosure [of the receipts], it will be bad for the entire nation, and be harmful to the persons [who requested the reimbursement]," he said.
Wang said that some people and things related to a nation's diplomacy should be kept secret, noting that he hoped whoever had seen the classified information would keep what they learned confidential.
Wang made the remarks in response to reporters' questions about whether Chen's publicizing the receipts would hurt former president Lee Teng-hui (
According to Wang, among the receipts shown to him were documents indicating how Lee used the special fund from 1994 to 2000.
"On the documents about Lee's reimbursement, I saw the names [of those requesting reimbursement], the code numbers [of their diplomatic tasks] and the amounts," Wang said.
He refused to compare the way in which Lee and Chen used the special fund, saying "maybe Chen has his own way."
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip David Huang (
"It's beyond our capacity to determine whether the receipts the president showed us were legal or not," he said.
He said that the president had taken the opportunity to express his great respect for Lee, praising his predecessor for having "institutionalized" the "Feng Tien" and "Tang Yang" projects for conducting "secret diplomacy."
OPINION POLL
Meanwhile, according to a survey released yesterday by Global Vews Monthly, a total of 53.1 percent of the public think that Chen should give the public a complete explanation about the corruption allegations against the first family and answer reporters' questions about the scandals.
The survey found that 62 percent of respondents did not believe Chen's explanation of how he has spent the special state affairs fund, and only 18.2 believe him.
Among pan-green camp respondents, 53.8 percent said they believed Chen's explanation, while 26.5 percent did not.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
RSS