Taiwan President Shot (Update: Wounds not life-threatening)

[BurbankKarl]

KCAL9 News reported just went across the wires

[tallhappy]

Yup. I've stayed up and watched the results come for the last two in 1996 and 2000.

This is major and unbelievable. It caught me right out of the blue. I hadn't even considered an assasination or an attempt.

But the ChiComs have publicly floated doing just that in the past.

[Simmy2.5]

I remember the last time, 2000, when Chen was elected. Watched local Chinese news reports with my parents about the election. Couldn't understand a thing except that Chen was winning. I remember being glad about the election because I always felt that Taiwan should be an independent nation and NOT a slave to China (even though at the time, I was still fairly liberal and a minor Clinton supporter [man have I seen the light]).

Wouldn't put it out of the possibility of Chicoms assassinating Chen. However did it, so far though, it appears (thank god) that it failed.

[heleny]

Some people I know had speculated (incorrectly, I guess) that the candidates would be wearing bulletproof vests while campaigning, since the candidates all wore longsleeved jackets while sweating profusely last weekend on TV.

I hope our Secret Service is more careful with President Bush, since there are many more people who hate him.

[tallhappy]

Maybe he was wearing one and that's what saved his life. I don't know.

[Atlantic Friend]

KMT could be a challenger, though. Wasn't it in Taiwan where congressmen once shot each other during a Congress session ?

[Atlantic Friend]

Haven't they just concluded a amphibious assault exercise with lots of foreign observers ?

[Atlantic Friend]

Well, it could also lead to : Taiwanese president assasinated...China express insulting condolences to grieving nation...KMT leaders decide to take over the country and suspend all elections until "more appropriate time".

[StriperSniper]

But the retired nurse wanted to kick Chen out of office. "If he continues talking about independence and provoking China, the Chinese Communists will attack us," said Chang, 76, who favors Chen's opponent, Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan, in Saturday's election. "Independence is impossible for Taiwan -- we're too small, and they're too big. We should focus on the economy instead, and we can't do that by isolating ourselves from the mainland."

She would obviously vote for an international socialist like Kerry were she American.

I think Samuel Adams had something to say to people like her:

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

[StriperSniper]

Wasn't it in Taiwan where congressmen once shot each other during a Congress session ?

Last year there was an incident in NYC:

A first-hand account of the City Hall assassination of James Davis

[StriperSniper]

Washington Times this morning:

Taiwan's president shot while campaigning

TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 19 (UPI) -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu were shot while campaigning in Tainan Friday afternoon, but both are stable and conscious.

Chen was shot in the abdomen and Lu in the knee around 1:45 p.m., local time, Friday. Both were rushed to a nearby hospital, where their wounds were declared not life-threatening.

The Election Commission said the election would go forward as planned Saturday, but all campaign activities were suspended.

Chen and Lu were standing in a moving car passing along a crowded street when they were shot. The gunshots had been obscured by the sound of firecrackers in the street.

No arrest was made immediately.

The opposition Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan expressed his regrets over the incident.

In Beijing, the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Li Wei Yi said the central government had taken note of the incident and was paying close attention to it. China's media carried no reports of the incident.

The presidential election has been highly emotional, with Taiwan's identity and its relations with China at the heart of the campaign.

[steveegg]

Interesting times ping.

[John H K]

Haven't they just concluded a amphibious assault exercise with lots of foreign observers ?

There's a difference between conducting an "amphibious assault exercise" and invading Taiwan.

Taiwan would require an amphibious assault larger, more complex, and more difficult than the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

[Atlantic Friend]

Of course. I just wanted to point that the PLA Navy had some amphibious capabilities in case of the real thing coming up. Right now, though, I don't really see it coming. It's the old intimidation game through mock invasions and naval exercises (and I'm angered that French ships may play a part in it).

[kinghorse]

"celebratory fireworks that are traditionally ignited as the president's motorcade passes by."

great idea.

[kinghorse]

The Chinese Premier (I still like the sound of that) just finished a visit to the USA, and from the looks of this, it was a sizing up mission.

[kinghorse]

And I know Hu Jintao's title is President.

[MarcoPolo]

For a full story see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4559337/.

This should be a warning to us. Trouble is coming in the straits between China and Taiwan.

[killjoy]

Taiwan would require an amphibious assault larger, more complex, and more difficult than the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

I have heard this reported before and I am wondering if you have anything to back it up? If China tries to attack, there will probably be no opposition because everyone in Taiwan will be trying to catch the first flight out of there.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Just a bunch of pictures at one Taiwan website. Here is one of them, off the TV, showing the nature of the graze wound along the Pres' abdomen:

Almost looks like different phoots. The top headline (next to Pres.' photo) sez "President Shot!", and the bottom headline mentions that "He has returned to the Presidential House in Taipei and is resting."

[AmericanInTokyo]

photos! not phoots!