Taiwan's President and Vice-President Shot

TAIPEI, Taiwan 19 Mar. 2004 (AFP) ~ 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." Election officials also said the vote would be held as scheduled on Saturday.

China, which still views Taiwan as its sovereign territory more than 50 years after the two sides split during civil war, had no immediate reaction to the news of the shootings.

A large crowd of Chen supporters gathered outside the hospital in Tainan. Using Chen's nickname, the crowd was chanting, "A-bian, get elected," as they pumped their arms in the air. Some waved green flags, the color of Chen's Democratic Progressive Party.

Chen, 53, and Lu were standing in a red convertible Jeep as it drove past crowds lining the streets in his hometown. Along the route, people waved green banners and flags from stores and homes.

People also 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.

Taiwan's presidential election would be held as scheduled on Saturday, Huang Shih-cheng, head of the Central Election Commission, told reporters.

The vote pits Chen against opposition leader Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, who's promising to take a softer approach with the island's biggest rival: China.

Chen also planned an unprecedented islandwide referendum on the day of the election that will ask voters whether Taiwan should beef up its defenses to protect against hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at the island.

Beijing, which has nearly 500 short-range missiles deployed across the Taiwan Strait, has sharply criticized the referendum, saying it's an ill-disguised push by Taipei toward independence.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan indirectly criticized Chen, who is the nemesis of the mainland's communist government for not endorsing its "one-China" policy.

"Some people in Taiwan, under the pretext of democracy, are moving toward the referendum for independence to damage stability in the Taiwan Straits," Kong said. "The whole international community believes that such a move is not beneficial and even harmful to the stability in the region."

The United States also has expressed its displeasure at the referendum, along with France, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

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.

Experts are saying that Mr. Chen may now be boosted to a significant victory by a sudden wave of public sympathy.

CFPA: First a terrorist attack in Spain before an election day and now a would be assassin in Nationalist China. Pray that nothing happens in America from the hands of the demented that will affect our elections.