Former first daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) yesterday threw a fit on the streets of Manhattan, screaming at a group of Taiwanese reporters dogging her every move in New York.
Chen, a dentist, left for New York on Saturday night to take a US dental aptitude test.
As soon as her plane touched down at Newark Airport in New Jersey, she was met by a throng of Taiwanese reporters who continued to follow her around the city.
Screaming at the reporters for some 15 minutes and attracting the attention of many passersby, Chen slammed them for following her everywhere like “flies hovering over my head.”
“Why do you keep following me? I am not a wanted fugitive but you [the press] have been hounding me for six months in Taiwan and in the US,” Chen said in news clips aired by several cable news channels in Taiwan yesterday.
“Do you want me to die? What exactly do you want? All you want is to disturb my life,” Chen said.
Chen Hsing-yu is the only member of former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) family who has not been implicated in charges of money-laundering.
Chen Shui-bian is in detention, while his wheelchair-bound wife and son have been indicted and restricted from travel.
Many pan-blue talking heads speculate that the dental aptitude test was just a convenient guise for her to be in the States to take care of business relating to Chen Shui-bian's alleged money-laundering, including meeting with the Chen family's former doctor, Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥).
Some pan-blue pundits alleged that Huang flew to the US to tie up loose ends on the Chen family's suspect bank accounts.
Chen Hsing-yu denied she had arranged a meeting with Huang.
Asked for comments, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said in Taipei that the media take pity on Chen Hsing-yu and respect her human rights and personal space.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said Taiwanese reporters were stalking Chen Hsing-yu on purpose because they knew they would freak her out by doing so.
“Reporters made her go mad before the camera, film it and then broadcast it to make her a laughingstock in Taiwan and around the world,” Chiu said, urging reporters to stop tormenting her.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), however, remained skeptical of Chen Hsing-yu's role in the money-laundering case.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said Chen Hsing-yu could only blame her plight on her parents, “who were so greedy for money.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND FLORA WANG
‘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