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| 7/14 |
| 2004/3/19-20 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:12761 Activity:moderate |
3/19 Taiwan's President narrowly escapes assassination:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3550517.stm
\_ there are indications that it was staged by him and his campaign
staff. President Chen is trailing behind polls and he is doing
everything he can to win the 20% swing voters' vote
\_ urlP
\_ http://www.csmonitor.com/earlyed/early_world031904a.htm
\_ There is no actual information in this post whatsoever.
For that, you have to tune to reports from Taiwan. (It will
hard to get any decent news about it in English. Every
American news organization already equate DPP = democracy =
must be potrayed postively all the time.) There are various
pecularity, such as the hospital where Chen was sent after
\_ There are no indications in this post. For that, you
the "assasination" was visited by Chen's security detail
for mysterious preparation *before* the "shooting," and the
have to tune to reports from Taiwan. There are various
pecularity, such as the hospital when Chen went after
the "assasination" was visited by Chen's security detail
for preparation *before* the "shooting," and the location
of the bullet fragments and shells.
location of the bullet fragments and shells, etc.
\- #t
\_ I am not the poster above but after what happened in Spain,
this is a very natural thing to do, esp. with Mr. Chen's
(and his wife's) bribery scandal getting bigger and bigger.
Of course, this does not prove that he staged it, but really,
at this moment the only persons who can gain from an
"assasination" attempt are Mr. Chen's family and team.
\_ So you think scrubbing out the pro-splittist party chief
is of no benefit to the mainland??
\_ It wouldn't be wise to assasinate now, or ever. Chen
is not more separatist than many others in his party or
even outside his party. He is an opportunist who is
\_ so you believe he had himself and his vp shot
because he has some petty bribe scandal
brewing? thats just nuts.
using this issue as a vote-getter. If he goes, more
radical people are ready to replace him. He has in fact
become sort of a liability for the separatist cause.
\_ A liability? Say what? How do you figure that?
\_ His (or his wife's) bottomless appetite for
bribe.
\_ so you believe he had himself and his vp shot
because he has some petty bribe scandal
brewing? thats just nuts.
\_ So is DU the proper liberal counterpart to FreeRepublic, or are
we still waiting for the Bolshevik Daily to achieve extremist
parity?
\_ The democraticunderground is a respectable site. Freepers
are frothing insane lunatics.
\_ A bian a bian, go go go.
\_ This is a non-sequitur.
\_ When come november, we should expect an assassination attempt?
\_ No, but after Spain got wobbly you can expect a terrorist
act to kill a few hundred people. Something flashy with
pizzaz.
\_ Is the KMT really the remnant of Chiang Kai Shek's Koumintang party?
Those guys were a bunch of thugs...
\_ Well, the DPP (the party of President Chen) is the
reincarnation of the Taiwanese Communist Party, the TaiCom.
\_ A bian a bian, go go go. |
| 7/14 |
|
| news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3550517.stm Taiwans president and vice-president have broadcast messages of reassurance hours after they both escaped an attempted assassination. The leaders - shot as they campaigned for Saturdays presidential elections - said both they and Taiwans security were fine and urged people to vote. A bullet grazed President Chen Shui-bians stomach while Vice-President Annette Lu was hit in the knee. Both were taken to hospital but have since been allowed home to recuperate. Reports that the president had been shot while campaigning in his southern home town of Tainan prompted tearful outpourings of shock both there and in the capital, Taipei, followed by jubilation when it became clear Mr Chen was not badly hurt. Officials said Saturdays presidential election and a controversial referendum on defence would proceed as planned, though both main parties cancelled their final campaign rallies. An investigation task force has been established and a reward of $90,000 has been offered for information on whoever shot at the politicians as they stood in the back of an open-top car. Security assured President Chen referred to his nickname as he told his national television audience: Theres no problem with A-bian. Correspondents said he looked drawn during the short broadcast, in which he thanked people for their concern. Ms Lu said the gunshots had shocked everyone, but said that should not deter voters. It is the responsibility of the president and the vice-president to protect the people from wind and rain, she said. Fourteen stitches The mayor of Tainan, Hsu Tain-tsair, who heads the citys police force, offered the reward at a news conference at which he apologised to the entire nation that this occurred in the normally peaceful city of Tainan. Both Mr Chen and Mrs Lu are now recovering at their official residences in Taipei. The president underwent surgery at the Chi Mei hospital in Tainan to remove the bullet from his stomach and received 14 stitches, but he was not seriously hurt and was able to leave the hospital just hours after being injured. The BBCs Chris Hogg in Taiwan says the president and vice-president were being driven in a red open-top car through crowds of supporters when the shots were fired. A bullet-hole was visible in the windscreen of the car at the front of a motorcade. The streets of Tainan, the presidents home town, had been packed with cheering supporters and celebratory firecrackers were being set off and initially it was thought they had been injured by a firework. The vice-president first felt pain in her knee and she thought it was caused by firecrackers, presidential secretary general Chiou I-jen told a news conference in Taipei. Then the president felt some wetness on his stomach area, and then they realised something was wrong. The pair were whisked to hospital for treatment, but left some hours later when they were driven to Air Force One, the presidential plane, to fly to Taipei. Correspondents say it is the first such attack on a president in Taiwan and may well affect Saturdays voting in what had already been a close race. |
| www.csmonitor.com/earlyed/early_world031904a.htm The election council, which governs the rules, has stated that they wont cancel the election unless one of the candidates dies. How is the assassination attempt affecting voters mood just hours before polls open? Well, this is a question that is quite confusing here in Taipei and throughout Taiwan at the moment. To most electoral cognoscenti, the bottom line is that the opposition party Kuomintang KMT led by Lien Chan and James Soong were ahead in the informal polling by as much as 800,000 to 15 million votes. People here seem to feel like, if thats true, while Chen may get a bounce, it wont be enough to change or influence the vote. Theyre very strong supporters of Chens Democratic Progressive Party DPP. They expressed the hardcore pro-Taiwanese sentiment that the referendum is very important perhaps even more so than the election. One grandfather I spoke to said the referendum is so crucial because the world needs to see that Taiwan will stand up to China. People at the KMT party are sending out text messages and a blizzard of e-mail messages saying, dont watch TV, its all propaganda. They are sending out blanket e-mails to journalists, saying the whole attempt looked very fishy. A lot of them think the assassination was staged a last-minute election ploy to gain sympathy votes. Some sources suggest the shooters may have been motivated by a private, personal vendetta. There has been no history of major violence in Taiwanese elections to speak of. Tonight, the entire country is sitting in front of their TVs, instead of being out on the streets in expected election rallies, because campaigning has ceased. My sense is that this thing has happened too close to the elections for it to be resolved. Theyre going to vote Saturday, but its possible that the bad feelings may begin to build up, if in fact, this turns into a story of allegations and counterallegations. If this turns into a story about a fishy setup designed to earn votes, things could get quite ugly. The election will conclude Saturday, but the rumor story the what actually happened story could intensify in coming days, especially if Chen is reelected. The stronghold of DPP, the pro-Taiwanese solidarity crowd is in south Taiwan. Anything south of midpoint Taiwan is hardcore pro-Taiwan, pro-DPP, so Chen is on home soil there. Interestingly, Tainan was also where his wife, who is now crippled, was run over in suspicious circumstances during a previous Chen campaign many years ago. |