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2012 ELECTIONS: Key
figures speak out to support Tsai
‘CONSCIENCELESS’: Harvard professor and Yu Chang
founder Chen Lan-bo vouched for Tsai Ing-wen and said Taiwanese should be
angered by the KMT smear campaign
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
The DPP yesterday showed a
teleconference between Harvard professor Chen Lan-bo and its spokesperson Chen
Chi-mai, right, in which Chen endorsed Tsai Ing-wen’s innocence and said
Taiwanese should be angered by the KMT smear campaign.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
yesterday disclosed more information as it reiterated that presidential
candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was innocent of alleged illegal involvement in Yu
Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司).
The party also again condemned Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD)
Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) for what it said was repeated lying about document
forgery.
Liu and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday accused Tsai of wrongdoing
in connection with the biotech start-up while Tsai was vice premier in 2007,
backing up the claim with a document which they said was created on March 31,
2007, but was later proved to be produced on Aug. 19, 2007.
Liu later apologized for “confusing the date” of the document, but maintained
her attacks on Tsai.
The DPP yesterday said Liu should answer these questions: “Who forged the
document? When was the document fabricated? Why was the date changed to March
31?”
Tsai was still serving as vice premier when TaiMed Group, the predecessor of Yu
Chang, held an investor conference on March 31, 2007. She left office in May and
became Yu Chang’s chairman in September that year.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said Liu should also answer why she
mentioned March 31 as a “critical date” five times on Monday and who asked her
to repeatedly lie about the forgery.
The “smear campaign” appeared to be an attempt to mislead the public into
believing that Tsai was a corrupt official, Chuang said, adding the tactic could
result in Tsai being charged with corruption, a felony that comes with a prison
term of more than 10 years.
According to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act
(總統副總統選舉罷免法), Tsai’s candidacy would be vacated if she is convicted of
corruption, Chuang said.
Several key dates have been the most important factor in the controversy, DPP
Legislators Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said at a separate press conference yesterday
morning.
A group of scientists and corporate leaders — including current Academia Sinica
president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chairman
Morris Chang (張忠謀) and Yulon Group chief executive officer Kenneth Yen (嚴凱泰) —
attended a dinner meeting at Tsai Ing-wen’s residence in July 2007, he said.
“Tsai [Ing-wen] declined Wong’s offer to be Yu Chang’s chairman, a fact which
Yen — a confidant of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — could confirm,” Tsai Huang-liang
said, adding that it also showed Tsai Ing-wen had no intention of heading the
company as late as July 2007.
The DPP yesterday afternoon also showed a teleconference between Chen Lan-bo
(陳良博), a professor at Harvard University who was one of the founders of Yu
Chang, and its spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) recorded on Tuesday, in which
Chen endorsed Tsai Ing-wen’s innocence.
Chen Lan-bo said the CEPD had fabricated the document and added that the
founding group of Yu Chang never considered Tsai Ing-wen as a candidate for the
chairmanship before June 2007.
“If it had not been for the initial investment from Tsai’s family, I don’t think
Taiwan Global BioFund (上智生技創投) and President International Development Corp
(統一國際開發) would have followed suit,” he said.
The forgery and the KMT’s attack was “unfair, conscienceless and heartbreaking”
and a devastating blow to Taiwan’s biotech industry, he added, saying “Taiwanese
people are neither stupid nor cowardly. They should be angry [at the smear
campaign].”
At a separate setting yesterday, KMT lawmakers continued their attacks on Tsai
Ing-wen and demanded that she explain her connections with the state-owned
National Development Fund (NDF) and the TaiMed Group.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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