I just saw it announced on the news that the Taiwanese president was shot. Didn’t say anything else — must be a breaking story.
UPDATE: We’re getting some news now — courtesy AP:
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian was shot in the stomach Friday while campaigning on the last day of the presidential election, a lawmaker traveling with the president said.
Lawmaker Wang Hsing-nan, a member of Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party, said he saw Chen being treated in the emergency room in the southern city of Tainan.
“The president suffered a deep wound about three centimeters (1.2 inches) deep in the stomach,” Wang told TVBS cable news.
Wang said he was traveling in a car behind Chen’s motorcade as it drove through the streets campaigning in Tainan.
“I was traveling in the vehicle behind the president when I suddenly saw his car accelerating,” Wang said.
The Presidential Office said that it did not have enough information to discuss the incident.
TVBS cable news showed the convertible the president was riding in parked outside a Tainan hospital.
This ain’t good….
UPDATE II: VP Annette Lu was apparently shot, too:
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot Friday while campaigning, but both were conscious and in stable condition, officials said.
“He and the vice president were shot,” an official with the president’s office told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But were they really shot?
CTI cable news had quoted unidentified police officials as saying the president was injured by celebratory fireworks while campaigning in the southern city of Tainan.
Hmm…
UPDATE: Check out Brainysmurf’s post on this.
2 Comments
If they weren’t shot, could this be something like the “Bob Roberts” scenario, in which an attempt is being made to generate sympathy for the victims and anger against the shooters and their backers?
Presumably, it’ll turn out that the shooters (if we confirm they’re real) are PRC thugs. The object of the game, whether the shooters are real or not, would be to raise the collective ardor of the Taiwanese as they approach the referendum question.
Not that I disagree with the intention: I sympathize with Taiwan and root for their independence. It’s a shame our govt still backs a “one China” policy. If this is a “Bob Roberts” scenario, however… I don’t know if the ends justify the means.
Kevin
Sounds like this is a job for Arlen Spector.
PING:
TITLE: Taiwanese Leaders Injured
BLOG NAME: Kamelian X-Rays
Both President Chen Shui-bien and Vice-President Annette Lu were shot in an apparent assassination while the two were campaigning in Tainan ahead of Taiwanese elections on Saturday. Both are conscious and in good condition. Reports of an apparent firec…