'Smear campaign won't stop me challenging Chen'
The leader of a campaign to oust scandal-plagued Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has vowed to go ahead with his planned protest to demand Mr Chen's resignation despite being the target of smear allegations.
'Nothing can stop my resolution to oppose corruption,' said former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh, who kicked off a campaign involving '1 million people' to oust Mr Chen on August 14.
Mr Shih, who has had his integrity and trustworthiness questioned by Chen supporters since he launched the campaign, told a news conference yesterday he was saddened that former comrades had set out to smear and insult him.
'Even my two ex-wives have been asked to join the [chorus] in attacking me. I feel sad about the [use of such acts] to try to shift the focus of my campaign, which is to oppose corruption and to build a clean administration,' he said.
Some staunch supporters of Mr Chen, including DPP lawmaker Lin Kuo-ching, have tried to use Mr Shih's two ex-wives to support their claim that the former chairman is a flawed man who hopes to gain from the anti-Chen campaign.
Mr Lin originally planned to make public yesterday a letter, supposedly written by Mr Shih, begging for leniency from then Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek after he was imprisoned for alleged sedition four decades ago.
