hummalumma
03-19-2004, 02:36 PM
...although the situations with Taiwan and Tibet are not the same, it is similar in nature with aspects of independance and freedom from mainland China and it's bullying tactics. Taiwan though, WILL use violence to fight back whereas Tibet will not.
This vote on Saturday is very important to see if China goes forward as a nation politically or backwards if Taiwan goes ahead with seperating with China.
Mar. 19, 2004. 11:52 AM
link to article (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1079695200881&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
AP PHOTO
This image, captured from video, shows Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's bloody stomach area as he waves to supporters March 19 in Tainan, Taiwan, 300 kilometres from Taipei. Running mate Vice-President Annette Lu, beside him, was also injured by a gunshot to the knee. Senior officials say the injuries were not life-threatening.
AP PHOTO
A bullet mark is seen in a red circle on the front glass of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's campaign vehicle in this photo from news footage by a Taiwanese TV broadcaster March 19.
DAVID LONGSTREATH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supporters of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian offer prayers at his campaign party headquarters March 19 in Taipei. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot while campaigning for this weekend's presidential election.
Gunman wounds Taiwan president, VP
Election official says tomorrow's election will go ahead as planned
WILLIAM FOREMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - President Chen Shui-bian and his vice-president were shot and slightly wounded today as they rode in an open vehicle while campaigning a day before an election that could be a turning point in Taiwan's tense relationship with China.
No arrests were reported and it was not clear who shot Chen. The street in his hometown, the southern city of Tainan, was choked with supporters on the eve of the landmark election and a simultaneous referendum.
Hours later, Chen appeared on television in a videotaped message, looking stiff and tired. He reassured viewers about his health and Taiwan's security.
"There's no problem with A-bian," Chen said, referring to himself by his nickname, in his first comment since the shooting.
"There's no problem with Taiwan's safety. Please feel at ease," added Chen, who was seated and dressed in a sweater vest.
Some analysts predicted the attack could boost Chen's chances in what had been seen as a close vote. Chen has angered the Nationalist opposition and Beijing by championing a separate identity for Taiwan.
One analyst suggested it was most likely the work of a "deranged individual," adding that it was "inconceivable" that opposition parties or the Beijing government could have been behind the attack.
The 53-year-old leader - the first Taiwanese president to be shot - was grazed in the abdomen and Vice-President Annette Lu, 59, was hit in the right knee. Neither injury was life-threatening, said Chiou I-jen, secretary general in the Presidential Office.
"Security services are hunting for the culprit," said Wang Jinn-wang, deputy chief of the National Security Bureau, adding that police had no suspects.
At least two shots were fired and there might have been more than one gunman, said Liu Shih-lin, deputy chief of the National Police.
"The bullets come from different directions. It could be that it's not one person," Liu said.
Chen left Chi Mei Hospital about five hours after the shootings to return to the capital, Taipei. He did not comment as he got into a sport utility vehicle and headed to the airport.
After the shooting, the president "was very conscious and he walked into our emergency room," said hospital head Chan Chi-hsien.
Doctors showed photos of a 11.5-centimetre-long wound just under Chen's navel.
Chan said the bullet didn't penetrate deeply and no internal organs were damaged.
Chen and Lu were not wearing bulletproof vests as they stood in a red convertible jeep and waved to crowds lining the streets in Tainan on the last day of campaigning.
Chen enjoys street campaigning and frequently wades into big crowds. Security is relatively relaxed because there's no tradition of violence against leaders on the island.
People were setting off celebratory fireworks as he drove by and early media reports said he was injured by firecrackers.
"The vice-president first felt pain in her knee and she thought it was caused by firecrackers," Chiou said. "Then the president felt some wetness on his stomach area, and then they realized something was wrong."
Chen's supporters gathered outside the hospital in Tainan. Using his nickname, the crowd chanted, "A-bian, get elected!" as they pumped their arms in the air. Some waved green flags, the colour of Chen's Democratic Progressive party.
The balloting vote will go ahead as planned Saturday, an election official said, although parties suspended campaigning.
In addition to the presidential contest, the unprecedented referendum spearheaded by Chen will ask voters whether the island should increase its defences against hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at it.
China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and insists the two should be unified, fears the referendum could lead to a vote on Taiwanese independence and has bitterly denounced Chen in recent months.
Philip Yang, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei, said it was too early to say how the shooting could affect the election. "It could bring out sympathy votes" for the president, Yang said. "Or it could consolidate the blue camp," he added, referring to the Nationalist party.
Beijing, which previously criticized Chen for calling the referendum, had no immediate reaction.
China is traditionally a volatile topic in major Taiwanese elections. The two sides split when the Communists took over the mainland in 1949. Beijing wants Taiwan to unify and has threatened to attack if Taiwan seeks formal independence from the mainland.
Beijing waited more than six hours to tell its own public the news about Chen. A two-sentence report by the official Xinhua news agency late today said Chen and Lu had been shot and that Taiwanese authorities were investigating. The report didn't refer to either by their official titles, reflecting Beijing's view that Taiwan's popularly elected government isn't legitimate.
Taiwan officials refused to speculate about who fired the shots.
"We were very, very shocked," said opposition candidate Lien Chan of the Nationalist party, who visited Chen tonight. "We wish President Chen and Vice-President Lu will recover soon. We strongly condemn any form of violence."
Hundreds flocked to Chen's downtown Taipei campaign headquarters tonight. The peaceful crowd flowed into the street, blocking off the four-lane thoroughfare.
A "deranged individual" seemed the most likely suspect, said Steve Tsang, director of Asian Studies Centre at St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, adding that the referendum might have heightened tensions and pushed an emotional voter over the edge.
"Elections in Taiwan are always emotional and when the referendum issue was raised, it all became much more emotional and passionate," Tsang said. "That could well have had the effect of turning one person to doing something very, very silly."
Tsang said it was "inconceivable" the opposition or the Chinese government could have been behind the attack.
Chen has accused the Nationalist party of involvement in a 1985 incident in which his wife, Wu Shu-chen, was run over three times by a truck, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. The truck driver and party insisted it was an accident, and the driver wasn't charged.
The election has been an emotional, hotly contested race dominated by negative campaigning.
Lien and Chen agreed on most of the basic issues involving China policy. Neither candidate favours immediate unification, and both are highly distrustful of the Communist leadership.
However, Chen has been more aggressive in pushing for a Taiwanese identity separate from China's and this has raised tensions with Beijing.
The United States also has expressed its displeasure at the referendum, along with France, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
This vote on Saturday is very important to see if China goes forward as a nation politically or backwards if Taiwan goes ahead with seperating with China.
Mar. 19, 2004. 11:52 AM
link to article (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1079695200881&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
AP PHOTO
This image, captured from video, shows Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's bloody stomach area as he waves to supporters March 19 in Tainan, Taiwan, 300 kilometres from Taipei. Running mate Vice-President Annette Lu, beside him, was also injured by a gunshot to the knee. Senior officials say the injuries were not life-threatening.
AP PHOTO
A bullet mark is seen in a red circle on the front glass of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's campaign vehicle in this photo from news footage by a Taiwanese TV broadcaster March 19.
DAVID LONGSTREATH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supporters of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian offer prayers at his campaign party headquarters March 19 in Taipei. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot while campaigning for this weekend's presidential election.
Gunman wounds Taiwan president, VP
Election official says tomorrow's election will go ahead as planned
WILLIAM FOREMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - President Chen Shui-bian and his vice-president were shot and slightly wounded today as they rode in an open vehicle while campaigning a day before an election that could be a turning point in Taiwan's tense relationship with China.
No arrests were reported and it was not clear who shot Chen. The street in his hometown, the southern city of Tainan, was choked with supporters on the eve of the landmark election and a simultaneous referendum.
Hours later, Chen appeared on television in a videotaped message, looking stiff and tired. He reassured viewers about his health and Taiwan's security.
"There's no problem with A-bian," Chen said, referring to himself by his nickname, in his first comment since the shooting.
"There's no problem with Taiwan's safety. Please feel at ease," added Chen, who was seated and dressed in a sweater vest.
Some analysts predicted the attack could boost Chen's chances in what had been seen as a close vote. Chen has angered the Nationalist opposition and Beijing by championing a separate identity for Taiwan.
One analyst suggested it was most likely the work of a "deranged individual," adding that it was "inconceivable" that opposition parties or the Beijing government could have been behind the attack.
The 53-year-old leader - the first Taiwanese president to be shot - was grazed in the abdomen and Vice-President Annette Lu, 59, was hit in the right knee. Neither injury was life-threatening, said Chiou I-jen, secretary general in the Presidential Office.
"Security services are hunting for the culprit," said Wang Jinn-wang, deputy chief of the National Security Bureau, adding that police had no suspects.
At least two shots were fired and there might have been more than one gunman, said Liu Shih-lin, deputy chief of the National Police.
"The bullets come from different directions. It could be that it's not one person," Liu said.
Chen left Chi Mei Hospital about five hours after the shootings to return to the capital, Taipei. He did not comment as he got into a sport utility vehicle and headed to the airport.
After the shooting, the president "was very conscious and he walked into our emergency room," said hospital head Chan Chi-hsien.
Doctors showed photos of a 11.5-centimetre-long wound just under Chen's navel.
Chan said the bullet didn't penetrate deeply and no internal organs were damaged.
Chen and Lu were not wearing bulletproof vests as they stood in a red convertible jeep and waved to crowds lining the streets in Tainan on the last day of campaigning.
Chen enjoys street campaigning and frequently wades into big crowds. Security is relatively relaxed because there's no tradition of violence against leaders on the island.
People were setting off celebratory fireworks as he drove by and early media reports said he was injured by firecrackers.
"The vice-president first felt pain in her knee and she thought it was caused by firecrackers," Chiou said. "Then the president felt some wetness on his stomach area, and then they realized something was wrong."
Chen's supporters gathered outside the hospital in Tainan. Using his nickname, the crowd chanted, "A-bian, get elected!" as they pumped their arms in the air. Some waved green flags, the colour of Chen's Democratic Progressive party.
The balloting vote will go ahead as planned Saturday, an election official said, although parties suspended campaigning.
In addition to the presidential contest, the unprecedented referendum spearheaded by Chen will ask voters whether the island should increase its defences against hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at it.
China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and insists the two should be unified, fears the referendum could lead to a vote on Taiwanese independence and has bitterly denounced Chen in recent months.
Philip Yang, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei, said it was too early to say how the shooting could affect the election. "It could bring out sympathy votes" for the president, Yang said. "Or it could consolidate the blue camp," he added, referring to the Nationalist party.
Beijing, which previously criticized Chen for calling the referendum, had no immediate reaction.
China is traditionally a volatile topic in major Taiwanese elections. The two sides split when the Communists took over the mainland in 1949. Beijing wants Taiwan to unify and has threatened to attack if Taiwan seeks formal independence from the mainland.
Beijing waited more than six hours to tell its own public the news about Chen. A two-sentence report by the official Xinhua news agency late today said Chen and Lu had been shot and that Taiwanese authorities were investigating. The report didn't refer to either by their official titles, reflecting Beijing's view that Taiwan's popularly elected government isn't legitimate.
Taiwan officials refused to speculate about who fired the shots.
"We were very, very shocked," said opposition candidate Lien Chan of the Nationalist party, who visited Chen tonight. "We wish President Chen and Vice-President Lu will recover soon. We strongly condemn any form of violence."
Hundreds flocked to Chen's downtown Taipei campaign headquarters tonight. The peaceful crowd flowed into the street, blocking off the four-lane thoroughfare.
A "deranged individual" seemed the most likely suspect, said Steve Tsang, director of Asian Studies Centre at St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, adding that the referendum might have heightened tensions and pushed an emotional voter over the edge.
"Elections in Taiwan are always emotional and when the referendum issue was raised, it all became much more emotional and passionate," Tsang said. "That could well have had the effect of turning one person to doing something very, very silly."
Tsang said it was "inconceivable" the opposition or the Chinese government could have been behind the attack.
Chen has accused the Nationalist party of involvement in a 1985 incident in which his wife, Wu Shu-chen, was run over three times by a truck, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. The truck driver and party insisted it was an accident, and the driver wasn't charged.
The election has been an emotional, hotly contested race dominated by negative campaigning.
Lien and Chen agreed on most of the basic issues involving China policy. Neither candidate favours immediate unification, and both are highly distrustful of the Communist leadership.
However, Chen has been more aggressive in pushing for a Taiwanese identity separate from China's and this has raised tensions with Beijing.
The United States also has expressed its displeasure at the referendum, along with France, Germany, Japan and South Korea.