Exiled Chinese democracy advocate Wang Dan (王丹) yesterday denied an accusation by former Taiwanese political worker Lee Yuan-chun (李援軍) that Wang had sexually harassed him in a hotel room in New York nine years ago.
There was a huge gap between Lee’s accusation and his own understanding and memory, Wang wrote on Facebook, adding it was hard for him to respond further regarding a “unilateral description” made by someone else.
Wang made the remarks after his initial response on Facebook was met with criticism, with people saying he did not directly address the allegation.
Photo: AP
Lee on Friday wrote on Facebook that he had decided to publicize the incident after seeing many political workers in Taiwan share their experience of being sexually harassed at work.
In his first response on Friday, Wang said that the accusation was completely unfounded.
Wang, one of the leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student demonstrations, said Lee was simply using the anniversary of the protests, which unsurprisingly indicated his political intentions.
“The sexual harassment mentioned by the author [Lee] did not exist,” Wang wrote on Facebook on Friday. “I have a lot of things to do now and will not make any additional response [to the accusation]. My political activities will not be affected by the accusation and will proceed as scheduled.”
Lee, a former aide of independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Liang-chun (林亮君), wrote that he had met Wang and Wang’s aide for the first time in Taichung nine years ago.
He wrote that when Wang invited him to the US, he was about to turn 20 and had started participating in social movements in Taiwan, adding that he had been happy to accept the invitation, thinking it would be good to travel with the famous Chinese democracy movement leader.
Lee said that on the night of June 6, 2014, Wang’s aide left Lee and Wang in a hotel room in New York’ Flushing neighborhood.
Wang approached him while he was working on his notebook computer and told him not to focus so much on the computer, but to rather to go to the window and take a look at the scenery, Lee said.
He said he was not interested in the scenery, but out of respect for Wang, he walked to the window, which was when Wang allegedly held him from behind and kissed him without his permission.
Wang pushed him onto the bed, while continuing to kiss him, Lee said.
He said that Wang started to take off his own pants and tried to have sex with him, but he pushed him away, saying he had undergone anal fistula surgery just before he had left for the US and asking him to stop.
Lee said that Wang stopped, but over the following week, cracked jokes with sexual implications and hinted that he wanted to sleep with him.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS