張銘清案 蘇游姚等民進黨前主席立場強硬
更新日期:2008/10/22 16:05
大陸海協會副會長張銘清遭暴力事件，民進黨幾位前主席立場強硬。前主席蘇貞昌質疑國共聯手設下圈套，游錫昆不願評斷包圍抗議者責任，但批評事件起因馬總統施政作為，應負最大責任。姚嘉文不願評論，因為他沒有看到張銘清被人推倒。（黃悅嬌報導）
蘇貞昌指出，張銘清披著學術外衣，來台趴趴走，還嗆聲「沒有台獨、沒有戰爭」，馬政府卻未做任何因應準備，令人不禁懷疑是國共設下圈套。〔馬政府很奇怪吊詭作法，發生此事後，再鋪天蓋地定調為暴力，全部一味加諸民進黨身上，國共手法奇怪〕
游錫昆則以不清楚當時情況為由，不願評斷包圍抗議者責任問題，而是將衝突的源頭指向馬政府，要求負責。〔馬政府上任後，談話政辱國，才是事件最大元凶〕
另一位前主席姚嘉文則不願回應媒體詢問，他反問，有人看到誰打張銘清嗎？質疑媒體報導不公正。
政治中心／綜合報導 (2008/10/21 22:25)
赴台灣進行學術交流的中國海協會副會長張銘清，21日上午參觀台南孔廟時，遭民進黨台南市議員王定宇及親綠群眾圍堵，引發激烈拉扯，張銘清被推倒，後腦還挨拳，總統府中午透過發言人王郁琦表示，譴責少數人所做的暴力行為；資深媒體人在政論節目鄭弘儀表示，「馬英九政府譴責暴力有雙重標準」；資深媒體人吳國棟說，「馬政府錯估國內情勢」。
張銘清在21日遭受暴力推擠、座車車頂遭踹，馬政府與國民黨朝野人士予以譴責，並表示遺憾；鄭弘儀表示，愛國同心會成員蘇安生在7月份，趁前總統陳水扁為拉法葉艦軍購誹謗案出庭時，狠踹阿扁臀部，但馬政府沒有立即給予譴責，是在過了3、4天後才發出聲明譴責暴力，如今張銘清這起暴力事件發生，馬政府就立刻開緊急會議、譴責暴力，「馬英九政府譴責暴力的標準何在？」
鄭弘儀還說，對於張銘清遭受暴力，馬政府譴責施暴者，但為何「不譴責中國的毒奶粉事件？台灣人找不到公道，會自己找公道」。
吳國棟表示，台灣人民在毒奶粉事件影響下，壓力鍋已經「悶了很久」，「馬政府錯估了國內的情勢、低估人民的情緒，張銘清也低估了台灣人民不滿的情緒」。資深媒體人鍾年晃表示，毒奶粉、毒銨粉的事件，中國方面都沒有道歉，「引發台灣人民的不滿」。
台北大學公共行政系副教授侯漢君指出，既然張銘清是如此重要的一位人物，那馬政府為何不好好保護他，「事發時沒有一位警察在旁邊」；資深媒體人何博文表示，馬政府上任以來，「一味的親中，加上毒奶粉事件，才會引發人民不滿」。
另外馬英九總統21日還宣示，海峽兩岸未來4年不會有戰爭，同時秉持不統、不獨、不武；張銘清也回應馬總統這項宣示說，最好是永遠不要開戰，並強調，「沒有台獨，就不會有戰爭」。何博文表示，「張銘清說沒有台獨，就不會有戰爭」，那是不是就是「只要台獨，就會爆發戰爭，張銘清是在『嗆聲嗎？！』」
國際中心／編譯
中國海協會副會長張銘清今(21）日在台南被民眾追打跌倒的暴力事件，在瞬間就傳遍全球，由於此事牽動兩岸敏感神經，目前全球已有上百家媒體報導這則新聞，也再次傷害了台灣的國際形象。
CNN主播在播報時指出，「台灣獨派民眾星期二和中國海協會副會長張銘清起衝突，根據台灣電視台報導張銘清在台南被推擠，抗議民眾高喊台灣不是中國的一部份，張銘清則被推倒在地。」
NHK主播在播報時也表示，「中國政府對台灣窗口海協會副會長正在台灣進行訪問，台灣民眾因為對中國製造毒奶事件強烈不滿，而攻擊造訪的副會長將他推倒。」
張銘清在台南被群眾追打的新聞，在美聯，路透和法新等各大通訊社的報導下很快的傳遍全球，包括英國的BBC、美國的MSNBC、中東的半島電視台，甚至加拿大、巴拿馬法國、瑞士等地的媒體，全都大幅報導了這項消息。
這起暴力事件牽動兩岸敏感神經，也讓這起事件變成國際焦點，國際媒體因為這起暴力事件，再度關注海峽兩岸的互動，而這起暴力事件也讓全球媒體，對於即將到台灣訪問的海協會會長陳雲林更加注意。（新聞來源：東森新聞）
Taiwanese protesters attack Chinese envoy By PETER ENAV
Associated Press Writer |
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Angry protesters in southern Taiwan assaulted an envoy from rival China on Tuesday, part of an escalating reaction by the pro-independence opposition to President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of greater engagement with Beijing. The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait is a personal embarrassment to Ma, who has made closer economic and political ties with the communist mainland the centerpiece of his new administration. The Harvard-educated Ma was elected in March after promising to turn the corner on the pro-independence policies of predecessor Chen Shui-bian. In Tuesday's attack, about a dozen protesters surrounded Zhang at a Confucian temple in the southern city of Tainan, then knocked him to the ground while shouting anti-communist and pro-independence slogans. "Taiwan does not belong to China," protesters shouted. Zhang was helped to his feet by an escort and rushed to a waiting vehicle. A middle-aged man stomped and banged on the vehicle but did not attempt to prevent it from leaving the scene. The assault attracted a strong response from China, although Beijing was careful not to discount Ma's efforts to push for closer mainland ties. "We express strong indignation and fiercely condemn such barbaric acts of violence, and demand severe punishment for the troublemakers," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement posted on its Web site. Yet it also said the incident "cannot block the peaceful development of cross-strait relations." Zhang is a well-recognized figure in Taiwan. He was formerly the spokesman for Beijing on Taiwan affairs, often depicted on Taiwanese television as making strident comments that many Taiwanese regarded as offensive. The attack on Zhang comes several weeks before a more significant visit by Chen Yun-lin, Zhang's boss and the point man in pushing for unity across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait. That visit is supposed to provide tangible evidence of reduced tensions between Taipei and Beijing and give Ma's program of greater engagement with the mainland a big boost. The program - unveiled during Taiwan's lengthy election campaign - features regular direct flights across the strait, increased Chinese tourism, and a more liberalized regime for bilateral investments. Ma has also advocated a formal peace treaty with Beijing - though without going into specifics. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. China continues to claim the island as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if it ever moves toward formal independence. Promises of better relations with China helped propel Ma's Nationalists to an overwhelming victory in legislative elections in January, and the presidential poll two months later. A key factor was popular displeasure over Chen's China brinksmanship - Beijing regularly excoriated him for insisting that the island and the mainland are two separate countries - and a growing Taiwanese belief that closer links with Beijing would provide a much needed spark for the island's laggard economy. But since then, the bloom on the China rose has faded, as Ma's promises of a brighter economic day have largely fizzled, and Taiwanese have watched in dismay as health inspectors have stripped supermarket shelves of a succession of tainted Chinese food products. Tuesday's assault on Zhang reflected a profound lack of agreement among Taiwanese on how relations with China should proceed, said political scientist Hsu Yung-ming of Taipei's Soochow University. "Ma should have first sought consensus within Taiwan on cross-strait policies instead of zealously pushing forward his policy of close exchanges with (the mainland)," he said. "Now there can be more conflict when other Chinese envoys visit." On Saturday, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party is scheduled to hold a mass rally in Taipei to support its claims that that Ma's China policies are undermining Taiwan's sovereignty and putting the island's de facto independence and its democratic political system at risk. The DPP is particularly miffed at Ma's readiness to compromise with China on symbols that Chen put at the forefront of his own pro-independence administration - particularly his insistence that the island should be referred to officially as "Taiwan" rather than the Nationalists' "Republic of China" formulation. The rally is seen as a litmus test of whether Ma can ride out the current wave of DPP-led China discontent, or whether his ambitious attempts to dampen one of the post-World War II world's most enduring political conflicts will come up short. A large crowd - say in excess of 150,000 - would provide ballast to the DPP's claims that Ma is out of touch with Taiwanese opinion, while a smaller turnout would suggest that notwithstanding Tuesday's incident in Tainan, the new president is well on course. |
Chinese official attacked
|
Hostile treatment may affect impending visit by China's cross-strait envoy
| By Ho Ai Li , Taiwan Correspondent |
TAIPEI: ATTACKS by pro-independence activists against a visiting mainland official got physical yesterday.
Mr Zhang Mingqing, vice-president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Arats), was visiting a Confucius temple in southern Tainan when a group of protesters surrounded him and pushed him to the ground.
Television news footage also showed a protester trying to hit Mr Zhang and another jumping onto the roof of a black car that he got into.
Mr Zhang, who suffered minor injuries yesterday, arrived on Sunday for a visit in his capacity as dean of the mass communications school of Xiamen University.
The rough treatment he has received since then is likely to lead Beijing to consider carefully when to send its top cross-strait envoy Chen Yunlin to visit.
On Monday, about 200 protesters heckled him at the Tainan National University of the Arts and told him to get out of Taiwan.
Yesterday's incident highlighted the kind of problems that could arise when Mr Chen, the chairman of Arats, visits Taiwan and China would certainly weigh the security issue before setting a date for his trip.
Said Professor George Tsai of Taiwan's Chinese Culture University: 'Beijing can understand that there will be protests but if personal safety is involved, they would hope Taiwan can take care of it.'
Indeed, China's Taiwan Affairs Office and Arats expressed 'shock' and 'strong indignation' over the attack in a letter to the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Arats' counterpart in Taiwan, yesterday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
They urged the relevant authorities in Taiwan to 'strictly punish' the offenders and to ensure Mr Zhang's safety and that no such incident is repeated.
In response, SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung promised to step up security for Mr Chen's visit. He also received a message from Mr Chen, who said that while the incident was 'unfortunate', it would not affect the 'peaceful development' of cross-strait ties.
Still, the attack has cast more uncertainty over the visit of Mr Chen, who would be the most senior mainland official to visit Taiwan since 1949.
Taiwan officials have been saying the talks with Mr Chen would take place in 'late October, early November' but the dates have yet to be confirmed.
Even the dates for preparatory talks to nail down details of Mr Chen's visit have not been set, although Mr Kao Koong-lian, secretary-general of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which oversees matters concerning China, hopes both sides can agree on a date by this week.
Analysts believe that China is monitoring the mood in Taiwan, and waiting to see how the anti-Chen rally planned by the opposition for Saturday pans out before setting any dates.
The recent tainted milk saga has also soured many people's view of China, with 64.85 per cent of 1,081 people polled by the MAC this month agreeing that China is unfriendly towards the Taiwan government. This compares with only 53 per cent in August, in the warm afterglow of regular cross-strait charter flights.
This shows improved cross-strait ties do not mean less public unease, noted Dr Lin Cheng-yi, a research fellow in the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica.
Scholars at a recent forum also urged the government to listen to more voices and forge consensus with the opposition on cross-strait issues.
But apart from the milk saga, polls also showed that about 64 per cent welcomed Mr Chen's visit to Taiwan and 60 per cent opposed the anti-Chen rally.
Food safety and economic issues like direct cargo flights are expected to be discussed during Mr Chen's visit, which would kick off the second round of cross-strait talks.
Chinese negotiator heckled by pro-independence activists in Taiwan
Taipei - A senior China official was heckled by pro-independence activists Monday during an academic seminar in the southern Taiwan county of Tainan, forcing him to cancel all public activities organized by his local host. "Get out, get out of Taiwan," shouted dozens of activists, who rallied outside Tainan University of Art to protest the visit of Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, which represents the Chinese government with the island.
Zhang, a former spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under China's State Council, arrived Sunday for an annual cross-strait seminar on art exchanges between Taiwan and China.
The univeersity invited Zhang in his capacity as dean of the Institution of Mass Communication of Xiamen University.
His visit angered pro-independence supporters, mindful of his previous hard-ling remarks during his time as TAO spokesman in late 1990s that China would never allow Taiwan to split from the mainland.
"As long as the Republic of China exists, we will never tolerate China to extend its sovereignty to our land. Taiwan is not a part of China," shouted one of the protestors in Tainan, a major base for pro-independence activists.
The Republic of China is the official title of Taiwan, which split from China at the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing still considers Taiwan a part of China that must be brought back to its fold, if necessary by force.
Local TV news footage showed two activists sneaking into the auditorium where Zhang was giving a speech. One of them unfurled a banner reading "Taiwan is independent. Taiwan is not a part of China," while another activist shouted: "We don't want tainted milk powder from China," referring to the recent contaminated milk powder crisis.
The activists were later removed from the auditorium and Zhang responded by joking that it was a special way of welcoming his visit.
Taiwan activists shout down visiting mainland officia(10-20 12:28)
Taiwan riot police were called to a campus where activists shouted down a visiting mainland official, illustrating the level of tension before a visit by Beijing's top negotiator later this year.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has vowed to bring the island back under its rule, by force if necessary.
But ties have improved since China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou came to power in May.
About 200 demonstrators yelled for Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, to "roll on back'' to China when he took the podium near the campus gates at the Tainan National University of the Arts.
REUTERS
Taiwanese protesters attack Chinese envoy
By PETER ENAV – 12 hours ago
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Angry protesters in southern Taiwan assaulted an envoy from rival China on Tuesday, part of an escalating reaction by the pro-independence opposition to President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of greater engagement with Beijing.
The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait is a personal embarrassment to Ma, who has made closer economic and political ties with the communist mainland the centerpiece of his new administration.
The Harvard-educated Ma was elected in March after promising to turn the corner on the pro-independence policies of predecessor Chen Shui-bian.
In Tuesday's attack, about a dozen protesters surrounded Zhang at a Confucian temple in the southern city of Tainan, then knocked him to the ground while shouting anti-communist and pro-independence slogans.
"Taiwan does not belong to China," protesters shouted.
Zhang was helped to his feet by an escort and rushed to a waiting vehicle. A middle-aged man stomped and banged on the vehicle but did not attempt to prevent it from leaving the scene.
Zhang is a well-recognized figure in Taiwan. He was formerly the spokesman for Beijing on Taiwan affairs, often depicted on Taiwanese television as making strident comments that many Taiwanese regarded as offensive.
The attack on Zhang comes several weeks before a more significant visit by Chen Yun-lin, Zhang's boss and the point man in pushing for unity across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.
That visit is supposed to provide tangible evidence of reduced tensions between Taipei and Beijing and give Ma's program of greater engagement with the mainland a big boost.
The program — unveiled during Taiwan's lengthy election campaign — features regular direct flights across the strait, increased Chinese tourism, and a more liberalized regime for bilateral investments.
Ma has also advocated a formal peace treaty with Beijing — though without going into specifics.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. China continues to claim the island as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if it ever moves toward formal independence.
Promises of better relations with China helped propel Ma's Nationalists to an overwhelming victory in legislative elections in January, and the presidential poll two months later.
A key factor was popular displeasure over Chen's China brinksmanship — Beijing regularly excoriated him for insisting that the island and the mainland are two separate countries — and a growing Taiwanese belief that closer links with Beijing would provide a much needed spark for the island's laggard economy.
But since then, the bloom on the China rose has faded, as Ma's promises of a brighter economic day have largely fizzled, and Taiwanese have watched in dismay as health inspectors have stripped supermarket shelves of a succession of tainted Chinese food products.
Tuesday's assault on Zhang reflected a profound lack of agreement among Taiwanese on how relations with China should proceed, said political scientist Hsu Yung-ming of Taipei's Soochow University.
"Ma should have first sought consensus within Taiwan on cross-strait policies instead of zealously pushing forward his policy of close exchanges with (the mainland)," he said. "Now there can be more conflict when other Chinese envoys visit."
On Saturday, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party is scheduled to hold a mass rally in Taipei to support its claims that that Ma's China policies are undermining Taiwan's sovereignty and putting the island's de facto independence and its democratic political system at risk.
The DPP is particularly miffed at Ma's readiness to compromise with China on symbols that Chen put at the forefront of his own pro-independence administration — particularly his insistence that the island should be referred to officially as "Taiwan" rather than the Nationalists' "Republic of China" formulation.
The rally is seen as a litmus test of whether Ma can ride out the current wave of DPP-led China discontent, or whether his ambitious attempts to dampen one of the post-World War II world's most enduring political conflicts will come up short.
A large crowd — say in excess of 150,000 — would provide ballast to the DPP's claims that Ma is out of touch with Taiwanese opinion, while a smaller turnout would suggest that notwithstanding Tuesday's incident in Tainan, the new president is well on course.
Amber Wang, AFP
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008TAIPEI - Scores of Taiwanese pro-independence activists on Tuesday shoved a top Chinese official to the ground during his visit to the self-ruled island, sparking anger in Beijing.
Television footage showed the protesters surrounding Zhang Mingqing and pushing him to the ground while he was visiting a temple in the southern city of Tainan.
Zhang, the vice president of China's quasi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, had to be supported by a guide and escorted back to his car as protesters tried to punch him and prevent him leaving.
After he ducked into the car a man climbed onto its roof and stamped on it repeatedly, shouting "Get out!"
Zhang later told reporters that he was slightly injured in the fray and said such violence "should not be tolerated in any civilized society," but insisted the development of cross-Strait ties "would not be hampered."
He attributed the incident to a "small group of people trying to sabotage cross-Strait ties".
Later in Beijing, China angrily demanded that Taiwan severely punish the activists who manhandled Zhang.
"We express strong indignation and condemnation at this type of uncivilized behaviour and demand severe punishment of the culprits," an unnamed spokesman for the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 following a civil war, but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Zhang's semi-official association is authorized by Beijing to handle civilian exchanges with Taiwan, in the absence of official contacts between the two sides.
Taiwanese police promised to beef up security for Zhang after the scuffle, which was also condemned by Taiwan Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and the ruling Kuomintang party.
"The incident seriously damaged the image of Taiwanese people and this is not the way to treat a guest," the Kuomintang said in a statement.
Tainan, where the incident took place, is a stronghold of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which favours independence, and the Kuomintang called on the DPP leadership to apologize.
The DPP in turn accused Zhang of being an "enemy" of Taiwan.
"China uses toxic milk to poison Taiwanese people and deploys missiles to threaten us. We do not consider Zhang a guest, but an enemy, and no one will treat an enemy nicely," opposition lawmaker Yeh Yi-jin told reporters.
Prosecutors in Tainan later summoned Wang Ting-yu, a DPP city councillor, for questioning on suspicion of pushing Zhang.
Wang insisted Zhang had simply tripped.
"He fell after kicking tree roots in the temple and we pulled him up . . . he fell on his own," Wang told reporters.
Zhang had arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, and Monday attended a seminar at a university in Tainan where he was heckled by pro-independence activists.
His trip comes as Taiwan is trying to arrange a new round of cross-Strait negotiations, after talks with China in June led to the first regular direct flights between the island and the mainland in nearly six decades.
Ties have improved dramatically since Taiwan's China-friendly president Ma Ying-jeou took office earlier this year. He has promised to improve business and tourism ties with China following eight years of strained relations under his pro-independence predecessor Chen Shui-bian.
Zhang's boss Chen Yunlin is expected to visit the island in the coming weeks for more talks, but Tuesday's scuffle heightened concerns that those plans could be scrapped.
No itinerary has been finalized for those talks, but newspapers here have said they will be held in Taipei between late October and early November and will focus on cargo flights and shipping links.
Top China reunification official 'jostled' in Taiwan
Updated October 21, 2008 22:17:15
A top Chinese official has reportedly been jostled and shoved to the ground by Taiwanese pro-independence activists during a visit to the self-ruled island.
Television footage shows scores of protestors surrounding the Chinese reunification official, Zhang Mingqing, and pushing him to the ground while visiting a temple in Taiwan's southern city of Tainan.
As the vice president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, Mr Zhang had to be escorted back to his car as protesters tried to throw punches at him and prevent him leaving.
The scuffle has been condemned by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party.
An opposition party councillor insists Mr Zhang had simply tripped after kicking tree roots in the temple.
His visit comes as cross-Strait negotiations with China in June led to the first regular direct flights between the island and the mainland in nearly six decades.
| Chinese official attacked in Taiwan |
 |
TAIPEI - A top Chinese official was attacked by Taiwanese pro-independence activists during a visit to the island on Tuesday. Television footage showed scores of protestors surrounding Zhang Mingqing, vice president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), and later pushing him to the ground while he was visiting a temple in southern Tainan city. Local television also showed a man climbing on to the roof of Zhang's car and repeatedly stamping on it while shouting "get out." Zhang, who arrived in Taiwan on Sunday amid tight security, on Monday attended a seminar in Tainan, a stronghold of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The trip comes as Taiwan arranges a new round of cross-Strait negotiations after talks in June led to the launch of the first regular direct flights between China and Taiwan in nearly six decades. The DPP is scheduled to hold a mass rally Saturday in protest against the arrival of the Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin. Tensions across the Strait have eased since Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20 pledging to improve ties with Beijing. China considers the self-ruled island to be part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. --AFP |
Taiwan group protests against Chinese government visit
1 day ago
TAIPEI (AFP) — Dozens of pro-independence activists demonstrated on Monday against a rare visit by a top Chinese government official to Taiwan.
Zhang Mingqing, vice president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, arrived on Sunday amid tight security.
He gave a speech at a seminar on Monday at a university in the southern Tainan county, a stronghold of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Television images showed Zhang being interrupted by a student who held a sign reading "Taiwan is independent, not part of China."
"I was told in advance that Tainan people have the reputation of hospitability...I did not expect I would be greeted in such way. This may help me increase my knowledge," Zhang later told his audience.
Outside the university, dozens of people chanted slogans and held protest signs reading like "Red China, Get Out", "Safeguarding Taiwan Sovereignty" and "Taiwan, China, One Country Each Side" to oppose Zhang's visit.
The trip comes as Taiwan arranges a new round of cross-Strait negotiations after talks in June led to the launch of the first regular direct flights between China and Taiwan in nearly six decades.
The DPP is scheduled to hold a mass rally Saturday against the arrival of the Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin.
No itinerary has been finalised for the talks but newspapers here have said they will be held in Taipei between late October and early November and will focus on cargo flights and shipping links.
Trade and travel links between China and Taiwan have been severely restricted since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
Tensions across the Strait have eased since Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20 pledging to improve ties with Beijing.
China considers the self-ruled island to be part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Protesters attack Chinese envoy in Taiwan
Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:04:28 GMT
Pro-independence protesters in southern Taiwan have assaulted an envoy from rival China, in an incident which was condemned by Beijing.
Pictures from Taiwan TV stations showed about a dozen protesters surrounding Zhang Mingqing, then toppling him to the ground while shouting pro-independence slogans.
Zhang is from a mainland body responsible for relations with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province.
The attack comes amid rapidly improving relations between Beijing and Taipei under the new administration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.
The images are likely to inflame tensions between the pro-independence and pro-Beijing camps.
Beijing has already reacted angrily to Tuesday's attack, writing to the Taiwanese authorities to express its "strong indignation and severe condemnation" of the incident, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
A spokesman for Ma deplored the attack. "The presidential office expresses regrets over the incident and condemns the violence stirred up by a small number of people,'' said Wang Yu-chi.
Ma says better trade relations with China are necessary to bring Taiwan closer into the international economy. He has promised not to discuss the issue of unity with the mainland during his presidency.
Taiwan and the Chinese mainland have been governed separately since they split in 1949 at the end of a civil war but Beijing sees the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
JR/RA
Chinese official roughed up by crowd in Taiwan
Both Taiwan and China condemn the attack, but the display of public anger complicates government efforts to ease long-standing tensions between the two sides.
By Mark Magnier
October 22, 2008
Reported from Beijing -- China condemned an assault on one of its envoys by an angry crowd in Taiwan on Tuesday, an attack that came as the two longtime adversaries are trying to ease decades of tension.
Taiwanese television showed Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of a mainland association handling cross-strait relations, lying on the ground beside his eyeglasses. Other footage depicted an elderly woman hitting his car window with her cane and a pro-independence activist with a green headband stomping on the roof of the car.
That followed an incident Monday in which about 200 demonstrators yelled, cursed and heckled Zhang as he took the podium at Tainan National University of the Arts. Zhang was in Taiwan for an academic symposium, ostensibly in a nonofficial capacity. Taiwan and China often communicate through unofficial channels, given their strained relations.
Analysts said both sides have an interest in preventing public anger from raging out of control as they work to reduce tensions and boost transportation, culture and business links.
"I strongly condemn the violence," P.K. Chiang, Taiwan's top negotiator on cross-strait policy, said at a news conference Tuesday. "We want people to be more rational when others come from mainland China."
Beijing, however, was not soothed. The official New China News Agency condemned the incident, quoting a protest letter from Zhang's semiofficial group, the Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
"We are astonished at this," it said. And a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office called for "severe punishment" for those involved.
China and Taiwan are scheduled to hold talks in the next few weeks on improving relations. They will be closely watched, and Chen Yunlin, chairman of the association, will head the Chinese side.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory. The two sides parted ways in 1949 after an extended civil war.
In recent months, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has made improved relations a cornerstone of his administration, although the island remains politically divided.
Much of the anti-China anger in Taiwan comes from supporters of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, which until May presided over eight contentious years under the leadership of then-President Chen Shui-bian.
"It's pathetic to see how divided Taiwan is," said George Tsai, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, the capital. "Violence is wrong and must be condemned. It's not in anyone's interest if China and Taiwan go back to confrontation."
Opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen expressed her regret over Zhang's harassment in an article in the Liberty Times. But she added that China's negotiators should think twice before coming to Taiwan for further talks since "you should consider their feelings when visiting."
The attack on Zhang points to deep underlying tensions in Taiwan, said Lo Chih-cheng, a former official research director in Chen's administration, arguing that the new president is moving too fast.
"This has to do with the speed and scope of Ma Ying-jeou's opening to China," he said. "It generates concern among people, particularly in the south."
Many Taiwanese expressed concern about the attack.
"Regardless of what position [Zhang] holds, he's still our guest," said Hsu Hsi-tsun, a Taipei commercial driver. "We should arrest those people and convict them. This is bad for Taiwan's image."
The media on both sides of the Taiwan Strait played up the confrontation. Television stations on the island aired a continual loop of Zhang being jostled by protesters at the Confucius Temple in Tainan. "Zhang beaten, pushed to the ground," read a headline in the United Evening News.
One Taiwanese website, called Spicy News, suggested that Zhang wasn't pushed and that his tumble was planned to test the island's reaction. "Zhang Mingqing fell purposely to test which Taiwan media is the guardian of the Communist Party," said the posting by a writer identified as Subing.
China reported on the incident on the official wire service and major Web portals.
"I can't contain myself anymore," read an Internet posting by a writer identified as Gangan on the discussion group Tianyu. "Let the Taiwanese who work in China go back!"
The incident occurred as plans were unveiled to allow direct commercial flights between Taiwan and China starting next month, a move that will save 90 minutes and significant fuel and spur fare reductions. Planes now must pass through Hong Kong airspace.
President Ma also told a military meeting Tuesday that there would be no war between the two sides during his four-year term, adding that the island's military focus should be strictly on defense.
Special correspondent Cindy Sui in Taipei contributed to this report.
Magnier is a Times staff writer.
mark.magnier@latimes.comChinese Official Shoved To Ground
Scores of activists surrounded Zhang Mingqing and pushed him over while he was visiting a temple in the southern city of Tainan.
Zhang, vice-president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, was helped to his feet and escorted back to his car while protesters tried to punch him.
After he got into the vehicle, a man climbed onto its roof and stamped on it repeatedly, shouting "Get out!"
Zhang later revealed he was slightly injured in the fray and said such violence "should not be tolerated in any civilised society".
He insisted the development of ties between Beijing and Taipei "would not be hampered".
But China reacted angrily, demanding that Taiwan severely punish the protesters involved in the attack.
"We express strong indignation and condemnation at this type of uncivilised behaviour and demand severe punishment of the culprits," a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office said.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if it ever moves toward formal independence.
Relations between the two have improved since the election of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in March.
He promised to improve business and tourism links with China, from which Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war.
Zhang's visit came as Taiwan tries to arrange a new round of negotiations, after talks in June led to the first regular direct flights been the island and the mainland in nearly six decades.
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