Posted on 03/19/2004 8:21:51 AM PST by nickcarraway
Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian was shot in the stomach on Friday while campaigning for reelection - but is expected to survive the assassination attempt.
Vice President Annette Lu was also wounded in the attack but was not badly hurt, officials told Reuters.
"They are both conscious and their lives are not in danger," Chen's chief of staff, Chiou I-jen, told a news conference.
The Taiwanese leader was not wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time of the assassination attempt. He was rushed to a local hospital where he received 14 stitches for what Chiou I-jen described as a shallow flesh wound.
Chen, age 54, was reportedly ambulatory at the time of his hospital admission.
Lu, age 59, who required assistance walking after being hit in the right leg, is said to be in good condition, with the wound described as "not serious."
The two top Taiwanese leaders were riding in a red, open-top jeep through the southern city of Tainan, waving to crowds, when the shots rang out around midnight Eastern Time.
Police told Reuters that they believed two standard handguns were used and at least two shots were fired. They had yet to make any arrests.
Saturday's election would go ahead as planned, officials insisted.
The wound was reported as 1 1/2 " deep on one Taiwan news network, but my wife saw the wound on TV and her description isn't so serious although he received 14 stitches. At least one bullet has been retrieved, and most reporters are in agreement that he was shot, but the doctor who stitched up the president couldn't say for sure that his wound was from a bullet.
They were traveling in a parade motorcade of an open jeep without any car armor or bullet proofing on their bodies of any kind for over 60 miles!!!
Scheduled intensive campaigning stopped for both parties and the unique Taiwan TV news media is digging in.
Taiwan has like 20 TV news media outlets.
There are journalists expounding theories you couldn't imagine, including that President Chen engineered the event.
Bottom line is, this election is so close and undecideds are so few, that this could swing it for Chen.
That would be an amazing upset, and potentially antagonistic in dealings with China.
Events cancelled, etc, it's an incredible story.
In a perfect world I'd like to let the DPP have another go at it.
I like the man, Chen Shui Bien. He's done Taiwan well. But his party, the DPP just doesn't have the manpower recource depth to handle the situations that need to be faced. Not even mentioning China, Chen's party didn't do a good job. That's the public consensus. That's why he'll lose today. The shooting will give him votes, and we're all hoping that there is a clear winner either way. The public is afraid of a close election.
I'm not optimistic about America's future potential backlash from Islamonazis.
If Chen's re-elected and America is really smacked, IMO, China would make the grab for Taiwan in a heartbeat.
So I'm for the KMT and cutting a longterm deal with China that would allow much more autonomy and freedom of expression than Hong Kong got.
China's getting bigger and richer and stronger, and they are heartless bastards.
Sigh, going with the KMT. Politics are dicey. Er, but of course I am an American baby-boomer from California, I can't vote anyway. My wife is Taiwanese and she just decided this morning and voted for the KMT. She voted for Chen last time.
(Sorry for being so wordy. I wish I had your mind, Ambrose.)
I'm just a joe, nothing like you, Ambrose, or Quix.
I like looking up guys like you on the forum and just learning from what you say.
But Beijing's gotta stick with the stance on Taiwan
for no other reasons than they have put it number one priority to their public for decades,
and if they got soft, Xin Jiang would go Islamonazi, Tibet would be emboldened, even Mongolia might want more.
China can have all the ambitions in the world but a healthy America wouldn't let them have control of the shipping lanes around Taiwan.
So goes conventional knowledge, but, I recall a different history around Panama than today, huh!
The reelection victory for Chen is interesting in a hundred ways. You couldn't believe the intensity of feelings and the total polar split in the citizenship.
Most level heads are sure that the current broo-ha-ha will die off in the next days.
The candidates for the KMT were gambling to save their face and their futures. They were inept in the campaign and pathetic afterwards.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.