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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Security bureau offers protection as elections loom
Patty Tsai, wife of Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien, talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
SUITING UP: The wife of KMT candidate Sean Lien said she believed in the good nature of Taiwanese, when asked about rumors of threats of violence against her
By Chou Ssu-yu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Rumors of armed people plotting against candidates ahead of the nine-in-one elections has prompted the National Security Bureau to offer bulletproof vests to candidates who might feel the need for additional protection.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang （蔡煌瑯） said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday that there were rumors on the Internet that the elections on Saturday next week would see incidents of candidates being shot, vehicular assaults and other criminal activities, such as the throwing of paint at candidates’ headquarters or sulfuric acid at candidates, their workers or relatives — including one threat against Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s （連勝文） wife, Patty Tsai （蔡依珊）.
These actions would be aimed at harming candidates in the hope that it would stir up sympathy support among voters for the targeted person, Tsai Huang-liang said.
He asked what the bureau had planned as a response to such incidents.
If there were another shooting, it would indicate that the nation’s democracy is slowly regressing, the lawmaker said, referring to shooting incidents involving former president Chen Shui-bian （陳水扁） on the eve of the 2004 presidential election and Lien, who was shot in the face while campaigning for then-New Taipei City councilor candidate Chen Hung-yuan （陳鴻源） in 2010.
Tsai Huang-liang said that both Lien and independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） have received threats of violence and the bureau should consider measures to protect candidates.
National Security Bureau Director-General Lee Shying-jow （李翔宙） said the bureau is investigating all potential threats, while advising candidates to wear bulletproof vests, which the agency is willing to provide.
Asked about the threat of violence, Patty Tsai said she believed in the good nature of Taiwanese, adding that she hoped that nothing of the sort would occur during the elections.（Additional reporting by CNA）
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
