Chinese envoy ends Taiwan visit amid violent protests

by Sanjay Jha | November 6, 2008 at 09:17 pm

550 views | 0 Recommendations | 11 comments

China always had a very contentious relationship with its neighbour Taiwan. Even after Taiwan declared itself as a independent country in 1949 after China still claims control over its erstwhile territory. The United Nations, United States, and many other countries recognized Taiwan as being the rightful government of the Chinese people. However, Communist regime of mainland China stripped Taiwan from the seat in the United Nations. Today, Taiwan lacks international recognition or a seat in the United Nations and is considered by China to be a wayward province. Thus, the status of Taiwan has yet to be resolved.

Following years of hostility, relations between Taiwan and China appear to be rapidly improving and two warring rivals nations held the first formal talk few months back. The head of the Chinese association, Chen Yunlin paid a visit to Taipei amidst hevy protest by supporters of the opposition parties against his visit.

China's top envoy Chen Yunlin on Friday wrapped up a historic visit to Taiwan paving the way for closer cooperation between the traditional rivals but overshadowed by massive and sometimes violent protests.

Chen made history on Thursday when he met Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and was the most senior Chinese official from Beijing to visit the island since it split from China at the end of a civil war in 1949.

But angry protests followed his five-day visit at every turn.

More than 60 police were injured in clashes in Taipei overnight, the National Police Agency said, while local media reports said more than 20 protestors and reporters were also hurt.

Some 2,200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched to Taipei's Grand Hotel where Chen was staying, while around 1,000 people staged rowdy and at times violent protests, police said.

Some threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at police in an attempt to get past barbed wire barricades.

At a press conference shortly before his departure, Chen, his eyes red, appeared close to tears as he thanked Taiwanese security officials.

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JeffHuang

at 23:38 on November 6th, 2008

In addition to Sanjays post

President Ma of Taiwan spoke out and condemned Tsai from the opposing Green party of Taiwan for their actions and results they were not prepared for.

He also said that they cannot gather people up causing riots, blood shed, and violence then shed the responsibilties completely not acknowledging those were their people.

蔡主席選擇一條她不熟的路，採取一些她不擅長的事情，得到一些她想不到的結果，滿可惜的。」

馬總統並說，「不能把群眾動員來，造成事端、傷害、流血、暴力，然後說這不是我們的人，這叫負責任嗎？這是不妥的。」

It really is a mess in Taiwan. Politics is an incredibly sensitive topic there. The country is basically split up into two and people are often referred to and categorized by their color of political background. Green or Blue.

JeffHuang

at 23:40 on November 6th, 2008

My friend in Taiwan is actually staying in the same hotel as Chen Yunlin and where the protests is happening and he jokingly wrote on my facebook saying he has never felt so safe with 200cops around.

JeffHuang

at 00:03 on November 7th, 2008

The amount of injured police has escalated to 149 and not the 60 previously reported.

馬總統說，維安工作很瑣碎，範圍很廣，難免有些地方做得不夠好，已經在檢討，但警察很盡力，警方有一百四十九人受傷，這絕對不是小數字。

TWChris832

at 00:19 on November 7th, 2008

Human have the right to speak!
Demonstrate against ChINA!

One Taiwan, One ChINA

TWChris832 has contributed a photo to this story.

TWChris832

at 00:42 on November 7th, 2008

我還是打中文好了!

馬英九在說這樣的話的時候有沒有回想到 2000, 2004年總統選舉後當年的馬英九當市長是怎麼做的?

現在對於這次的抗議行動根本是說一套做一套!

很多人不知道台灣的政治生態, 奉承拍上司的馬屁是大部分的求生準則!

先前的張銘清來台, 警察局長的下場呢? 各分局主管都賭上自己的下半輩子!!誰都希望自己可以轉調高層, 所以費盡心思揣摩高層!

雖然馬一直說不要過份執法, 就像是蔣經國一樣, 一方面表現出親民形象! 走訪鄉下地方人民, 另一面卻又屠殺對立的人製造白色恐怖!! 標準的兩手策略, 兩面手法!

JeffHuang

at 01:00 on November 7th, 2008

Thanks Chris.

我打英文比較好. lol

Thanks for your opinion. You are right, a lot of people here have no idea what the situation is like in Taiwan. People see the news about these riots and they perceive Taiwan negatively. Truthfully it really is quite chaotic in Taiwan sometimes, but thanks for your opinion on this situation. Update us if you have any news and I will try my best to translate it here.

hongkiu

at 03:38 on November 7th, 2008

While I disagree with the term 'riots' (not a value-neutral term) to describe what were, for the most part, peaceful protests, I believe the DPP is to blame for not controlling crowd behaviour. That said, yours is only one side of the story. On the first day of Chen's visit, the Ma administration deployed around 5,000 police to disperse hundreds of peaceful protestors. Earlier, they had banned the opposition and civic groups from demonstrating near the Grand Hotel, while providing gratuitous road permits to pro-government groups. In other places across the capital, police confiscated protestors' Taiwanese flags, banned stores from playing Taiwanese songs, and employed riot gear to attack protestors. For many Taiwanese, the police's heavyhanded tactics conjured up images of the martial law era. It was in this context that protests turned violent on Wednesday and Thursday.

(www.flickr.com/photos/worldlover)

wenjun (not verified)

at 04:12 on November 7th, 2008

為何一直再強調多少警察受傷, 那受傷的台灣公民就不是人嗎. 有沒有想過為什麼人民會走向街頭? 為何人民會如此憤怒. 當我們只是想要和平的表示我們的立場, 帶著國旗上街, 穿著寫著"台灣人"的T-shirt走在街頭時, 卻被我們自己的台灣警察強制取下國旗, 限制行動, 誰會不憤怒. 哪一條法律規定這些行為是犯法的. 警察濫權人民受責, 這到底是什麼道理. 人民的言論自由被受到限制威脅, 我們當然生氣. its no longer just "blue" or "green", its about our rights.

jhonny (not verified)

at 19:57 on November 8th, 2008

If I were a taiwanese I be worry with these negotiation with china that is coming from our own american experience. No doubt china want to take taiwan money and take away taiwan job with china cheap labor that is now legendary. Here in usa the greedy corporation took most of our factory and telemarketing job over there, they dont give a crap for their country as long as they make more money. It seen it is inevitable now that china next victim with their cheap labor is Taiwan. The people of Taiwan working in those field where china can provide cheap labor better retrain in a new field. my two cent

Yangkang (not verified)

at 09:52 on November 10th, 2008

You are a piece of shit.

tze1969

at 00:49 on March 19th, 2009

Hello Sanjays

We are a music trio group from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Taiwan, Last year, when China's Chen Yun-Lin visited Taiwan in November, much chaos occurred. The events lead to our song, Our goal is for more people to understand the situation that Taiwan is in, and to realize that, although Taiwan claims to be a democratic free country, there are still these acts against human rights happening here. We would like to seek your permission to use the videos that you’ve posted on your forum documenting the events, and to edit them into a 6 min video for our song. The project will be posted on-line for viewing openly, and we hope for everyone to know that there are people fighting for freedom and human rights in Taiwan. There are no plans right now to publish or sell the song, and the recording is all done by the three band members. We sincerely hope that you can help us with our project, and get our voice out for people to realize how democracy was constrained and human rights were ignored under Today’s Taiwan government.

Thank you