Official: Taiwan's President And Vice President Shot

[Seraphim]

What is this world coming to...if this is link to China, all hell wil break lose.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040319/capt.tok20103190745.taiwan_election_president_tok201.jpg

Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian, left, and Vice President Annette Lu, right, and Kaohsiung give thumbs-up signal to supporters during an election campaign in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Friday, March 19, 2004. President Chen and Vice President Lu were shot in the southern city of Tainan Friday and both injured while campaigning on the last day before the presidential election. Both are conscious and in stable condition, senior Presidential Office official said. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, FILE)



By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot Friday while campaigning for this weekend's presidential election, but their injuries were not life-threatening, a senior official said.



Chiou I-jen, secretary-general in the Presidential Office, said the president was shot in the stomach and the vice president was hit in the right knee while their motorcade was cruising the streets in the southern city of Tainan.


"They did not suffer life-threatening injuries. They urge the public to cool down," Chiou said at a news conference.


Chiou added that "the president is conscious" and "can still direct the nation's affairs."


Chen was riding in a red convertible four-wheel-drive vehicle past crowds lining the streets in his hometown. People were setting off celebratory fireworks as he drove by and early media reports said he was injured by firecrackers.


"It was definitely a gun attack," Chiou said, adding that officials found one bullet.


"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 wrong."


Lawmaker Wang Hsing-nan told TVBS cable news that he was traveling in a car behind Chen's convertible four-wheel-drive vehicle.


"The president suffered a deep wound about three centimeters (1.2 inches) deep in the stomach," Wang told TVBS.


Saturday's election pits Chen against opposition leader Lien Chan, who's promising to take a softer approach with the island's biggest rival: China.


The Chinese government had no immediate public reaction to the news of the shootings. The Foreign Ministry referred questions to the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, which didn't answer telephone calls.


China is traditionally a hot topic in major Taiwanese elections. The two sides split when the Communists took over the mainland in 1949, and Beijing is pressuring Taiwan to unify.


Lien and Chen agree on most of the basic issues involving China policy. Neither candidate favors 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. China has threatened to attack if Taiwan seeks a permanent split.


Chen also planned an unprecedented islandwide referendum on the day of the election.


Voters will be asked whether Taiwan should beef up its defenses to protect against hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at the island.


China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and insists the two should be unified, has criticized the referendum, fearing it could lead to a future vote on Taiwanese independence.

[stuntman]

I guess armored cars are the only thing not made in Taiwan!

[Kilgor]

Damm.. tensions in that region just got alot hotter.

[ogukuo72]

Damm.. tensions in that region just got alot hotter.

Hardly. This president is known for his election gimmicks. Yesterday, a legislator closely associated with him admitted that he had accompanied the president's wife to accept "donation" from a businessman. This is probably an attempt to divert attention away from his corruption.

By the way, he was seen waving to reporters as he went into the hospital, and his wound is said to be only 3 cm deep. Was he even shot with a real gun?

[cold0]

****!

[wholagun]

I guess armored cars are the only thing not made in Taiwan!


rofl

[Kilgor]

Damm.. tensions in that region just got alot hotter.


By the way, he was seen waving to reporters as he went into the hospital, and his wound is said to be only 3 cm deep. Was he even shot with a real gun?

Why dont you go look at the news first ?
Shows the jeep he was in and a bullethole through the windshield.

Just maybe this will stir more national sentiment and cause more of a shift towards anti chinese policy ?


This is probably an attempt to divert attention away from his corruption.


Yeah.. ill just get someone to shoot me to divert attention from policy... jeez.. thats a good one :roll:

[ogukuo72]

Damm.. tensions in that region just got alot hotter.


By the way, he was seen waving to reporters as he went into the hospital, and his wound is said to be only 3 cm deep. Was he even shot with a real gun?

Why dont you go look at the news first ?
Shows the jeep he was in and a bullethole through the windshield.

Just maybe this will stir more national sentiment and cause more of a shift towards anti chinese policy ?


This is probably an attempt to divert attention away from his corruption.


Yeah.. ill just get someone to shoot me to divert attention from policy... jeez.. thats a good one :roll:

I already did. Watched the whole thing on CNN. Like I said, it's probably an election gimmick to try to gain sympathy and deflect attention away from his corruption. The whole thing just has this surrealistic and theatretical feel to it, with the guy and his veep waving on their way to hospital, and with officials still smiling.

By the way, you've no idea what Taiwanese elections are like, do you?

[Marmot1]

Damm.. tensions in that region just got alot hotter.


By the way, he was seen waving to reporters as he went into the hospital, and his wound is said to be only 3 cm deep. Was he even shot with a real gun?

Why dont you go look at the news first ?
Shows the jeep he was in and a bullethole through the windshield.

Just maybe this will stir more national sentiment and cause more of a shift towards anti chinese policy ?


This is probably an attempt to divert attention away from his corruption.


Yeah.. ill just get someone to shoot me to divert attention from policy... jeez.. thats a good one :roll:

I already did. Watched the whole thing on CNN. Like I said, it's probably an election gimmick to try to gain sympathy and deflect attention away from his corruption. The whole thing just has this surrealistic and theatretical feel to it, with the guy and his veep waving on their way to hospital, and with officials still smiling.

By the way, you've no idea what Taiwanese elections are like, do you?

Would you risk being shoot especialy in stomach which is most vulnerable part after heart, just to win elections and 3cm is quite deep wound especially when bullet hit windshield and somebody else knee before it hit you so it don't look like it was a small calibre i.e. LR.22 but rather 9mm or something similar...

[SpikeATGM]

He is gonna win this time, thanks to all those sympathatic vote.

In fact his VP is already starting to capitalise on this by saying that she is bearing this gun shot on behalf of all taiwanese.

[khukuri]

I guess armored cars are the only thing not made in Taiwan!

Armored cars dont protect that much that people think.
For example the "carwindows" in mostly cases only hold 4-5 shots and thers nothing.

[cut]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39940000/jpg/_39940017_ap203bodybleed.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39940000/jpg/_39940071_ap203bodyslit.jpg

[Seraphim]

From the pic it looks like he got grazed.

[fdt]

Another "new style" elections in progress?

[cut]

Another "new style" elections in progress?

no just an old-fashioned head of state assasination attempt.

[Maverick77]

If it was the Chiniese I would think both of them would of been killed instantly.

Probley just some idiot.

[fdt]

Another "new style" elections in progress?

no just an old-fashioned head of state assasination attempt.Old fashioned performed by some idiot... possibly, but who said that You must kill 201 people to alter the elections outcome? What worries me it's a difficult and breaking moment that was chosen and a very high pool of this elections game. In fact the Taiwanese will decide their country's future this time.

[obd]

what are you an idiot Airborne?? You think the Chinese agents are all Jet Li types who can walk up walls, dodge bullets, and kill 100 armed people in a room in just udner 2 seconds dont you???

Jeez. And whoever that moron is thats calling this an "election gimmick" and using crap evidence that he is corrupt is a moron too. You dont fake getting shot in the stomach. If he was willign to risk dying to get re-elected that I wouldnt call him a "gimmick"....I would call him insane.

I guess your probably chinese and dont like this Chen character because he and the Taiwanese dont want to be a part of communist China and you have probbaly been fed all your news and opinions by the state run media of China which is about the most corrupt news service in the world.......

[Haiw]

what are you an idiot Airborne?? You think the Chinese agents are all Jet Li types who can walk up walls, dodge bullets, and kill 100 armed people in a room in just udner 2 seconds dont you???
No, but the one shooting at the president seemed like a pretty bad shot...and no government sends a crap shot to assasinate someone.

[fdt]

what are you an idiot Airborne?? You think the Chinese agents are all Jet Li types who can walk up walls, dodge bullets, and kill 100 armed people in a room in just udner 2 seconds dont you???
No, but the one shooting at the president seemed like a pretty bad shot...and no government sends a crap shot to assasinate someone.Crap shot? maybe, but look at their positions in the car... both had hands up. Bullet hit the v-pres in her hand and then went down to pres. stomach. The shooter aimed what? Stomach, chest, head of the pres.? What was the bullet? What was the gun? What was the bullet's energy at target? Many questions still not answered...

[Rakki]

All the election gimmicks I've been seeing have been from the opposition party - big fat blank cheques to turn Taiwan's military into an all volunteer army within 4 years, double existing pensions for senior citizens, getting down on all fours and kissing the ground to show "love of Taiwan" - as for the claims of corruption - FOR GOD'S SAKE, you haven't seen the opposition party's finances have you? Or their ability to buy houses and apartment blocks overseas in the USA, and never mind the insane amount of money they raked in by speculating on land while they were in power (when land gets rezoned, guess who heard it first?)

Not to mention the current hoohaa about graft is coming from some deadbeat jerkwad that skipped Taiwan with billions of dollars - and then went to invest it in China - and has the nerve of claiming the warrants on his arse are "political witchhunt".

It's likely that the "hit" was probably done by some die-hard "patriots" who think that Taiwan belongs to China. They have made a reputation for standover tactics and basically thuggish extreme behavior - think misguided wackos with a grievance.

[-=TFN=-Karab]

Crap, hope the Chinese didn't plot this...

[SpikeATGM]

All the election gimmicks I've been seeing have been from the opposition party - big fat blank cheques to turn Taiwan's military into an all volunteer army within 4 years, double existing pensions for senior citizens, getting down on all fours and kissing the ground to show "love of Taiwan" - as for the claims of corruption - FOR GOD'S SAKE, you haven't seen the opposition party's finances have you? Or their ability to buy houses and apartment blocks overseas in the USA, and never mind the insane amount of money they raked in by speculating on land while they were in power (when land gets rezoned, guess who heard it first?)


Yeah, and it precisely of their corruption that they gat kick out of china. But anyway, DPP aren't that clean either. Talk about asset overseas, we all know all those DPP legislator also have them.

Politician are all scumbag.

[Sayeret]

Marmot1 said:


Would you risk being shoot especialy in stomach which is most vulnerable part after heart, just to win elections and 3cm is quite deep wound especially when bullet hit windshield and somebody else knee before it hit you so it don't look like it was a small calibre i.e. LR.22 but rather 9mm or something similar...

The stomach isn't the 2nd most vulnerable body part after the heart. I'd rather be shot in the stomach than in the head which is more vulnerable than the heart. Also the bullet used looked like a .22.

obd said:


what are you an idiot Airborne?? You think the Chinese agents are all Jet Li types who can walk up walls, dodge bullets, and kill 100 armed people in a room in just udner 2 seconds dont you???

First calm down. Next this might of been some moron who shot at the Taiwanese President or it could've been Chinese agents but airborne has a point, if it was Chinese agents they probably would've killed or gotten closier to killing the man than a moron would but people make mistakes so it could've been chinese agents. Also he never said anything about Chinese agents climbing walls or dodging bullets so what the hell are you talking about?

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

Why blame the mainland Chinese considering the state of Taiwans political infighting its just as likely that it was a native consider recent shootings of statesmen in the last 20 years Serbia's Djindjic, US Reagan,Sweden Palme and Israel Rabin all shot by fellow countymen of course Palme's killer has not been caught but its likely it was a countryman or has anyone other ideas.