Lies, Lies and More Lies?--Part I, Is the KMT Resorting to Old Tricks?

Thursday December 15, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

As the election date of January 14 draws near and the presidential race gets hotter and hotter, it seems that the KMT is resorting to smear tactics once again. Why so? Well one reason is the resurrecting of the old absconded money claims. Anyone who has been in Taiwan for some time would remember when the KMT accused Lee Teng-hui's wife of running off to the USA with suitcases full of money. Well this time the target is Tsai Ing-wen, the presidential candidate of the opposition party. The accuser is Tsai Ling-yi, the wife of Premier Wu Den-yih.

Tsai Ling-yi accused Tsai Ing-wen of transferring NT$1.1 billion to the accounts of her family businesses. That is a lot of cash,, some US$36.3 million.

When challenged and threatened with law suits for false statements to prevent a candidate being elected, Premier Wu Den-yih's wife immediately began to back-peddle. She said she may have cited "incorrect information." Ah yes, incorrect information, unfortunately the word on the street is that the KMT uses the "Chiu Yi book of falsehoods and fabricated stories" as its source for most information. So will Wu Den-yih's wife name the so-called source of her false information?