[quote] China condemned an attack on one of its officials in Taiwan today after he was assaulted by an angry crowd, an unwelcome incident at a time when the two longtime adversaries are trying to ease decades of tension.
Taiwan television showed Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of a mainland association handling cross-straits relations, lying on the ground beside his eyeglasses. Other footage had an elderly woman hitting his car window with her cane and a pro-independence activist with a green headband stomping on his car roof.
This followed a similar incident Monday when 200 demonstrators yelled, cursed and heckled Zhang as he took the podium at the Tainan National University of the Arts. Zhang was in Taiwan for an academic symposium ostensibly in a non-official capacity…
“I strongly condemn the violence,” P.K. Chiang, Taiwan’s top negotiator on cross-straits policy, told 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 written by 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.
Opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen expressed her regret over Zhang’s harassment in an article in the Liberty Times today. 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 a family.”[/quote]
He should have stayed north of Taizhong. South of Taizhong is 野蠻國家.
“Severe punishment for those involved”? What is Beijing going to do about it if they’re not punished?
[quote] China condemned an attack on one of its officials in Taiwan today after he was assaulted by an angry crowd, an unwelcome incident at a time when the two longtime adversaries are trying to ease decades of tension.
Taiwan television showed Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of a mainland association handling cross-straits relations, lying on the ground beside his eyeglasses. Other footage had an elderly woman hitting his car window with her cane and a pro-independence activist with a green headband stomping on his car roof.
This followed a similar incident Monday when 200 demonstrators yelled, cursed and heckled Zhang as he took the podium at the Tainan National University of the Arts. Zhang was in Taiwan for an academic symposium ostensibly in a non-official capacity…
“I strongly condemn the violence,” P.K. Chiang, Taiwan’s top negotiator on cross-straits policy, told 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 written by 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.
Opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen expressed her regret over Zhang’s harassment in an article in the Liberty Times today. 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 a family.”[/quote]
He should have stayed north of Taizhong. South of Taizhong is 野蠻國家.
“Severe punishment for those involved”? What is Beijing going to do about it if they’re not punished?[/quote]
I was nearly sick to my stomach watching those rabid DPP and TI supporters attack that guy on the TV news yesterday. Absolutely repugnant behavior, and the worst part is, it reflects negatively on all Taiwanese.
gee tommy thanks for the statistic…how about 99% of mainland Chinese are brainwashed wankers? prolly just as accurate…[/quote]
That would sound about right to me…
Personally, while I abhor violence, there is a part of me that thinks it is quite amusing giving all the BS that is spouted here in China about Taiwan.
A fun quote for perspective…
“Please keep in mind that for centuries, Taiwan has been a collection point for the disaffected, the disenfranchised, the kind that couldn’t fit in…why would you expect anything different? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Taiwan will muddle through as it always have – the will to live is strong in Taiwan” (this badly translated gem comes from the former head of Chang Gung Hospital – we were all rolling in the isles with laughter)
i don’t get this…this is a guy who openly espouses the use of force to prevent taiwan declaring independence…he’s visiting the homeland of taiwanese independence…hello? what does he expect, to be welcomed with open arms?
“As safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is in the core interests of China, the Chinese people will never allow anybody to split Taiwan from the motherland in any form”
his own words…
How is he a thug? He might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, as all negotiators & Deans of Journalism surely are…
Yet physical assault on the grounds on a temple are a little over the top.
Should have stuck to jeering and heckling…
yet such are the repugnant kids in the sandbox were talking about here…
To me it just shows how amateur the government is, not putting security cordon around him in this day and age. He could have been killed and that’s the truth.
[quote=“the bear”]i don’t get this…this is a guy who openly espouses the use of force to prevent taiwan declaring independence…he’s visiting the homeland of taiwanese independence…hello? what does he expect, to be welcomed with open arms?
“As safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is in the core interests of China, the Chinese people will never allow anybody to split Taiwan from the motherland in any form”
his own words…[/quote]
“Screw Taipei. Far too moderate. Let’s get him down south. Tainan. Cradle of the TI movement. If we can’t needle the TI-ers by parading this ARATS goon around right in front of their noses, I’ll eat my hat!”
This MUST have been carefully considered beforehand. He couldn’t have done anything MORE likely to create fury if he’d tried. I wonder who was behind it? The KMT or the CCP?
Shame on the DPP for allowing themselves to be so completely duped so easily. They really ARE ignorant backward country hicks.
Funny how a certain ex-president and his lost millions are suddenly free from front-page coverage. One attack by a loyal supporter on a visiting CCP’er.
Sure this was a setup – by whom, and for what purpose, it could be either (or all) of the KMT, CCP & DPP.
It still looks bad , really, smelly bad. Next thing people are going to mention Taiwan with Indonesia & Malaysia in the same sentence.
The KMT & DPP both need to get their act together quickly and start acting like they actually care about being professional in running this country instead of letting it slide into the Taiwan strait.
Oh nonsense. The protests at the uni speech were perfectly acceptable by any standard and happen all over the world. If they were against Bush you would be happily in agreement.
The only matter of any contention is the push in the park, which doesn’t look like it was deliberate. I just watched the youtube video (the lattimes ones are too fast to see anything clearly) though my speakers don’t work so I don’t have sound. There is no push, just the man in the tie in front of Zhang losing his balance in a jossle and, turning, knocking Zhang down. He clearly has his back to Zhang when the old man starts to fall. He then of course rushes to pick him up.
The protests at the university speech were fine. While I do believe that Zhang tripped and fell rather than having been pushed, he was retreating from a small but angry crowd that scared Zhang and passed beyond the pale of acceptable behavior–even to the minion of a despicable authoritarian regime.
I tend to think Sandie may be correct. This was a setup that will provide an excuse for draconian security when Chen Yunlin comes next week so that he and the Ma administration will not be embarrassed by seeing any protests at all.
Of course Wang Ding-yu (the Tainan City Councilman) played along willingly to get his moment in the spotlight. Idiot.
The other possibility is that Zhang and other Chinese officials are still so uninformed about the real sentiment of Taiwanese that they did not realize the likely outcome of a casual visit to the Confucian Temple without properly alerting their security detail.
As for the KMT’s pious denunciation of violence, one should remember how the KMT condemned Su An-sheng for attacking the former ambassador to Japan Hsu Shih-kai and then kicking Chen Shui-bian. They seated him in the VIP section of the National Day Ceremony this past October 10th.
