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China envoy ends historic Taiwan visit amid violent protests
2008-11-07
TAIPEI (AFP) - A senior Chinese envoy left Taiwan on Friday after a historic visit that paved the way for closer cooperation between the former bitter rivals, but which was marred by huge protests that left scores injured. Chen Yunlin -- the most senior Chinese official to visit the island since it split from China at the end of a civil war in 1949 -- made history on Thursday when he met Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou. But angry protests followed his five-day visit at every turn, culminating in violent clashes in the early hours of Friday between police and protesters that left more than 110 people injured, according to officials and local media. About 2,200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched to Taipei's Grand Hotel where Chen was staying to control 1,000 rowdy protesters, police said. Some threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at police in an attempt to get past barbed wire barricades. Twelve demonstrators were handcuffed and taken away. Police said 64 officers were hurt in the clashes, while local media said more than 50 protesters and journalists were also injured. Later Friday around 100 people, most of them college students, staged a sit-in outside the main government building to protest police handling of the earlier demonstrations. The group was later dispersed by police. The ruling Kuomintang and the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which organised the demonstrations throughout Chen's visit, traded barbs over the violence -- the worst protest clashes in 10 years. DPP parliamentarian Lai Ching-teh claimed the party had kept its promise to stage a peaceful protest on Thursday, when Ma and Chen were meeting. "Those who used violence were sent by the Kuomintang," Lai told reporters. But the accusation was flatly rejected by the Kuomintang. "Since DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen led her supporters into the streets, she has to take full responsibility for the violence," the KMT said in a statement. At a press conference shortly before his departure, Chen, his eyes red, appeared close to tears as he thanked Taiwanese security officials. "I would like to express our thanks to the police," he told reporters. "They made many sacrifices and shed blood during the tense protests. Words cannot describe our appreciation," Chen said, bowing briefly. On Thursday, thousands of mainly DPP-supporting demonstrators rallied in central Taipei to protest Chen's brief meeting with Ma. Organisers put the turnout at more than 100,000 while police estimated the size of the crowd to be 10,000. The cacophony could be heard for kilometres (miles) around the central government plaza as they moved off, on foot and in vans equipped with loudspeakers, towards the Grand Hotel. During Chen's visit, the two sides signed four deals that will see them cooperate in air travel, post and cargo shipping. Taipei and Beijing insist the accords will bring enormous economic benefit to both sides, but protesters fear that money and jobs will flood out of Taiwan as businesses seek to take advantage of cheap labour and resources in China. Tung Chen-yuan, a political science professor of National Chengchi University in Taipei, said Taiwan "swiftly signed agreements with Beijing, but a lot of people here felt that he had made too many concessions to Beijing." "It will become more difficult for the Ma administration to reach a consensus with the opposition on the future of the cross-Strait relationship," Tung said. A survey of around 800 people carried out by Taipei's Apple Daily found nearly a third thought the DPP were to blame for the violence, while a quarter pointed the finger at Ma, saying he had failed to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty.
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