Taiwan's president reelected due to PR-stunt"
 

Chen Shui-Bian was reelected.

The problem here is that the cops are now sure that the assassination attempt was staged. Yes, Taiwan's president faked it, and won because of it.

The police hasn't gone out and told the public or the media yet, but it's going to be nasty here for a while.

This guy was supposed to be the one to stamp out corruption and cheating in politics.

What are news channels in the West saying?

Um, I saw the photos in the news and the guy was shot across the stomach, leaving a huge gash. His VP was shot in the knee. I can't see anyone getting shot in the stomach on purpose. Just a few inches of error could leave you dead or paralyzed.

Exactly how do you know this was staged? I realize the losing party is claiming that, but they are the losing party, of course they would.

So, URL? Evidence? Credible news source? This all seems a little tin-foil-hat to me.

Exactly. I find it hard to believe that this was staged, heh.

channels in the west are saying:

Reagan
or was that in his second term?

/lazy

It's certainly a possibility that would have to be investigated, given that the shooting itself will be investigated anyhow. But, like others, I find it very hard to believe that anyone would have himself shot in the stomach for the *possibility* that this would get them re-elected. Given the poll results, there's no way of telling whether the attack swayed people one way or another.

Also, given the results, I'd say we'll get a Bush-Gore style battle for the vote. There was supposedly a 30,000 vote gap between the two candidates, with some 330,000 votes declared invalid. *very* close indeed, so close in fact, that a few miscounted ballots might swing the results to the opposition. Hence their demands for recounts and investigations.

As one who has relatives (oh what a day to visit) and ties there I can safely say that people are more than a bit suspicious / mad - Chen isn't exactly a popular president (nothing like putting a CEO that won't help you on on the Most Wanted List) as corruption is pretty common there.

The "invalid" votes and the entire assassination attempt is more than a bit fishy - an already unpopular president + known corruption is hardly easy to swallow.

The police are no longer trying to find out who did it: They are trying to find out if something actually happened. Right now, the Tainan police is 90% sure that the whole thing was a fake. They don't have anything that proves anybody actually got shot. The incident also caused the police and military to go into the highest state of emergency, which lost the KMT a lot of votes.

I know some people quite high up in the Taiwanese police force. I trust them.

The president has not yet spoken to the police. He was transported to a private hospital seven kilometers further away than the nearest one. He has not filed a complaint. The only people let into the hospital were reporters from the president's party's cable news channel.

The pictures shown of the injuries the first day, only showed body parts, not faces.

The thing here is that it would be extremely easy to prove it if something happened; just go to a damn police station, pull up the shirt, and file a report. But no. It ain't happening.

Everything was totally quiet three days before the election, so I expected something. Just not this.

The story:
The bullet, a homemade one, entered the windshield (left side), hit the VP in the knee (she was sitting to the right of the President), and then flew to the left and hit the President in the stomach.

The point is that nobody shoots anybody one day before an election, unless they want that person to win.

When the police are still trying to figure out whether somebody actually got shot, something's wrong.

So, the police were 100% sure and now they are 90% sure?

Sorry. My bad. Was pretty tired when I wrote the first one.

Either way it's now two bullets, and the president's office has gone out live in media, showing the president and the VP during surgery. They claim they had the pictures Friday, but didn't want to release them since it would have affected the election in their favour.

There's no point for me to play Don Quixote here.
But I repeat; the police is still investigating whether anybody got shot at all. After two and a half days.

Xenu, perhaps the president and/or his secret service guys decided to go to the hospital and get treatment instead of going to the police to file charges? That the police can't find any obvious evidence *right away*, does not mean nobody got shot. There are probably countless examples of similar attacks without a lot of solid evidence. The assassins might have been lost in the crowds, while their bullets might have been lost in the ground (mud).

I'm not saying this president is a nice guy and wouldn't put on such a show, but I'm just saying you should wait for the facts to come out, and not accept a random conspiracy theory simply because you want it to be true.

Um, you're officially in my "crackpot" file after that comment.

REMOVING MY TIN-FOIL HAT AND PROCEEDING TO THE NEXT THREAD.

After reading through this thread, all I can say is that I'm very bad at expressing myself when I'm feeling strongly about something.

There is however no point in explaining myself, or my viewpoint now. Editing sentences to make them make sense would be ridiculous, anyhow.

Show me a foreigner who's been in Taiwan during a whole election year, and I'll show you a crackpot by your standards.

Hats off, gentlemen.

it would be REALLY helpful if you could name sources...? and what's the deal with the bullet being homemade? does that mean they found a bullet?

HUH?

I want to keep this balances, and I won't call you a crackpot.. I will bring up one point, which is that while the election was really close, and sympathy may have played into the votes a little, YOU DON'T GET YOURSELF SHOT TO WIN AN ELECTION! You lose a puppy, or get robbed. you dont have a supporter shoot hot lead at you and your veep

Also, provide links if you say that "The problem here is that the cops are now sure that the assassination attempt was staged. Yes, Taiwan's president faked it, and won because of it"

The PotUS's "personal" hospital is at Walter Reed for security reasons. He will not go anywhere else if it's not life-threatening. There are reasons for Presidents having designated hospitals, you know.

This makes perfect sense.. That way whoever tried in the first place doesnt get a second chance in the ER

Here's a few links:
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3570531.stm" target="_new">Chen Declared Taiwan Victor</a>.

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3577731.stm" target="_new">Taiwan Dispute Goes to Court</a>.

And just for fun
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040329/od_uk_nm/oukoe_taiwan_election_jackiechan_1" target="_new">Jackie Chan losing sleep over Taiwan Poll</a>.

My gf's grandpa has been really fired up about the whole thing, going into long rants about how corrupt and unorganized the system is in Taiwan. Also, about the possible conspiracy around the whole assasination attempt, about how Chen may try and blame China in order to continue the tension between the two countries, and to maintain Taiwan's independance. That's about all I really know. It's best to wait until after more information has been released before anybody starts with cries of conspiracy.