US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI955

C O N F I D E N T I A L TAIPEI 000955 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ASEC, TW 
SUBJECT: BREAKTHROUGH ANNOUNCED IN MARCH 19, 2004, ALLEGED 
PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT; PAN BLUE SUSPICIOUS 
 
 
Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal; Reasons: 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1. (U) The Tainan Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) 
announced on Monday, March 7, a breakthrough in the year-long 
investigation of the March 19, 2004, shooting of President 
Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu in Tainan.  CIB 
Director Hou You-yi stated that law enforcement authorities 
believe an unemployed 64-year old Tainan man, Chen Yi-hsiung, 
was behind the assassination attempt.  Chen was found drowned 
in Tainan's Anping Harbor last year and CIB officials have 
not yet found the gun used in the shooting. 
 
2. (U) The CIB has concluded that Chen probably acted alone 
in the assassination attempt, and that his motive was his 
reported unhappiness with President Chen's leadership. 
Despite the missing gun, CIB insists that all evidence points 
to Chen Yi-hsiung as the attempted assassin.  The gun 
manufacturer and the middle men who supplied the gun all 
identified Chen as the buyer.  In addition, surveillance 
photos from the scene of the shooting show Chen fleeing from 
the area.  Finally, Chen's wife testified that he had 
admitted the shooting to her and had left behind letters that 
detailed his involvement in the crime, although she said that 
she had destroyed the letters to protect her family. 
 
3. (U) Pan-Blue officials quickly rejected the government's 
claims, charging the government is hiding the truth about the 
March 2004 shooting.  Following the CIB announcement, KMT 
spokesman Chang Jung-kung responded that Taiwan would never 
learn what really happened because the government was trying 
to blame a dead person for the assassination attempt.  Chang 
announced that the Pan-Blue parties would go ahead with their 
plan to hold a mass rally in Taipei on the March 19 
anniversary to protest the shooting.  People First Party 
legislative whip Lee Yung-ping called the CIB investigation 
absurd, charging it lacked both evidence and convincing 
motive. 
 
4. (C) Comment: Given the deep mutual distrust between Blue 
and Green coalitions, the Pan-Blue camp is not likely to 
accept the findings of the CIB's investigation as long as key 
pieces of evidence, such as the gun, remain missing.  Given 
the near certainty that the police will never obtain 
definitive proof of their conclusions, the investigation will 
likely reinforce the deep mutual distrust between the KMT and 
the Green camp. 
PAAL