2004 Taiwan Presidential Election: 1. Ten-Day Riot
Written by Andy Chang, Translated by Paul Shieh

[台灣號：「連宋之亂」的真相] ：序
紅柿 著

「台灣號」系列的文章巳經超過一百編以上了。原先這些文章都以日文書寫、寫到一定篇數就把它集成書出版。同時也將日文翻譯成中文、然後在台灣出版。所以已經出版的「台灣號會沉沒？」和「台灣號加油！」都有日、中文兩種。

我用日文書寫的目的是在於讓外國人暸解台灣所面臨的苦境：中共的打壓、蠻橫無理的在野黨、早已暗中投靠中共的統一派、官商勾結、淘空台灣、犯法逃離、洩密匿居大陸等等。這一切讓我屈居美國的人日夜苦思如何才能解救台灣人的痛苦。

今年三月回台投票之前、我的第三本書「台灣號的出航」已經寫到十五章了。但是回到台灣我所看到的、連宋陣營那一切無法無天的動亂使我非常氣憤。回美之後我一口氣寫出九章、並在日本和美國的網路發表。現在這一本書已經寫到二十四章結束。因為要趕在立法委員選舉之前出版、我打算先將把「連宋之亂」九章關於總統大選的部份翻成中文、做一本叫做[台灣號：「連宋之亂」的真相]的小書。這裡也有幾位同鄉鼓勵我翻成英文讓美國人瞭解真相。所幸得到謝耀東博士的熱心幫忙翻好第一章了。

六月份的「鄉訊」裡刊出的[「政治謀殺」的檢討]、就是其中的一篇。同鄉會會長陳榮昌博士對我說這一篇受到很多同鄉的喜愛。他提議從七月份開始繼續登刊。我也很高興而且希望能使更多同鄉閱讀和瞭解「連宋之亂」的真相。我想先在七月份的鄉訊登出英文版的第一章、借此以表達對謝耀東博士的感謝。這一篇也就是「連宋之亂」的概要。然後八月份開始就把其他各章以中文登出。

「台灣號」的光輝前途並不是只靠陳政權就可以達成目標的。大家必須共同努力、我們由民間協助陳總統才能克服難關。歡迎各位同鄉來信共同討論。

Before my return to Taiwan to witness the election, I made a prediction in Chapter 15 of my newsletter; "this election will polarize and elevate the mutual hatred between the two political alliances. Politicians will place their self interest before the national interests." This has turned out to be accurate. This election exposed many ugly faces. The conducts of those Chinese in Taiwan are utterly shameless and outrageous. They are vicious mobs like a pack of coyotes. Those who wish to make peaceful co-existence with hegemonic and cunning Chinese must think twice.

More than five decades of dictatorship in Taiwan made the Chinese rulers and their offspring into shameless, arrogant, cunning, lawless and greedy jackals. The long oppression of the rogue Chinese Nationalist regime made Taiwanese timid and tolerant to insult. During the ten post-election days in March, Taiwanese showed their amazing patience and willingness to make sacrifices. Foreign news media have not reported events in Taiwan, as reporters were not familiar with the true situation and considered Taiwan news trivial compared to turmoil in other parts of the world. This chapter is intended to inform oversea readers to understand Taiwan's post-election chaos.

Many ugly incidents occurred, indeed too many to contain in one short chapter. This chapter is a historical summary of events during the ten days in March. In the following chapters I will cover the details of each event. This riot was crafted by Lien-Soong coalition, aimed to invite China's intervention by force, thus adding a page of bloody history of Taiwanese suffering

* Pre-election Movement

Chinese control every facet in Taiwan: politics, military, academic, police, civil service, TV and news media. They eat Taiwan rice for more than 50 years, but their hearts are still in China. One proof is that they are secretly communicating with China to take over Taiwan. The wake up call was when a Taiwanese leader Lee Ten-Hui, was elected as the president in 1996. In 2000, another Taiwanese Chen Sui-Bian was elected as president. This resulted in enhancing Taiwanese identity, and greatly altered the political outlook.

The great leap forward in “Taiwanese movement” commenced in May 2003. Taiwanese group began calling to change the name of the nation to Taiwan, and also make a new constitution for the new nation. Taiwanese wish to determine their own destiny gained momentum, and the call of new name and new constitution were formally announced in September. Another show of the solidarity against Chinese hegemony came in February 2004. More than two million Taiwanese responded to the call of Ex-President Lee Teng-Hui to protest China's missile threat. On February 28, 2004 they held hands together and formed a human chain, covering the entire island from north to south. This date was the 57th anniversary of the brutal massacre of Taiwanese by the Chinese Nationalists. Taiwanese wish to be the master of his destiny reached the apex that day. Nationalism, Taiwanese identity, was on fire. President. Chen also declared to put the referendum, a call to China to stop threatening Taiwan, on the election ballot. The opposition parties, mostly Chinese, feared this referendum is a de facto independence movement. So they used their majority power in the legislature and passed a watered down referendum law and rendered it impossible to make any referendum.

President Chen found a loophole in the newly enacted referendum law, thus by using his presidential authority he ordered a special “defensive referendum” on March 20 presidential election ballot. Alarmed by this, China requested President Bush to warn Taiwan government. The opposition parties in Taiwan also crafted dirty schemes to stop the ballot. Their trick was to ask their supporters to boycott the referendum vote. That resulted in less than a half of the eligible voters participated in the referendum vote. The referendum was declared invalid. In addition to the boycott, there were reports of non-participation vote buying.

When the election campaign heated up, the smear campaign slipped into high gear. Various fabricated stories attacking President Chen appeared on TV. Chen Yu-how spit the most vicious rumor that ran up to the very Election Day out. He was an economic criminal who looted astronomical sum of money and escaped to Mainland China to avoid prosecution. He accused President Chen of accepting a huge amount of secret contribution.

During the campaign, the Lien-Soong team could not make any political issues. They simply twisted and negated everything Chen proposed. This shows the Chinese just do not want a Taiwanese to be the president, thus Lien was running to oppose Chen. To blur the distinctions between Chen and them, both men repeated whatever Chen said, on the economics issues as well as nationalism. When patriotism become the main issue, Soong interrupted his campaign speech in Tai-chung, kneeled and kissed the earth and shouted, "I love Taiwan!" As the news reached Lien in Taipei ten minutes later, he too threw himself forward, kissed the ground and clucked, "I love Taiwan more than Soong." People were appalled and later laughed at these ridiculous show. They would do anything to get the vote, people joked.

* Election Bet and Ballot Buying

During the 2000 presidential election, the ruling party Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the KMT deserter James Soong spent a fortune buying votes. Vote buying became difficult under the new DPP administration after Chen won the election and became the president in May 2000. Consequently Soong concocted a new scheme: election betting. He schemed the gamblers to bet on Lien-Soong (Pan-Blue) for a huge reward on winning. The Pan-Blue secretly promoted the booking by paying cash to district and village mayors, 90 % of them were KMT members. The police arrested many small bookmakers, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. The secret of vote buying was to promise more money to the KMT betters who naturally would vote for Lien. The election resulted in Chen-Lu victory, and the bookmakers refused to redeem Chen-Lu tickets on the ground that the Lien-Soong team was still challenging the election result.

* Assassination Attempt on President Chen

On the day before Election Day, President Chen and Vice President Annette Lu campaigned together, standing on an open top jeep in Tai-nan district. At 1:45 PM, bullets hit both of them inflicting a cut on Chen's abdomen and another on Lu's knee. Though the assassination attempt failed, it created a great chaos as the rumor machine slipped into high gear. At 5PM, the official bulletin announced that the gunshot wounds were not life threatening. Immediately after that, Lin Fong-Cheng, a high-ranking KMT official, lashed out a vicious statement that the assassination was staged. The comment spread like a wild fire and the Pan-Blue news media began escalating this baseless story. KMT's habitual dirty tricks surprised no one. The official bulletin at 9 PM disclosed the recovery of two bullets and detail pictures of the wounds sustained by Chen and Lu. Sisy Chen, a courtesan-legislator and the host of an anti-Chen TV talk show, stated at a Lien-Soong press conference that the assassination was a fraud, staged to gain sympathy votes, and charged that the President had the medical reports altered. Taiwan must have the most stupid President if he arranged to be shot himself. The suspicion has never put toward Lien-Soong. Who would assassinate Chen other than Chen's political opponent? Such nefarious rumor was undoubtedly to deflect people’s attention toward different direction. Later that night, Lien insisted that the election should proceed as scheduled, because the injuries were not life threatening. In agreement, the Central Election Commission announced the election would go ahead as planned.

* Lien Chan Demand Instant Recount and Called Demonstration

The vote counting began immediately following the close of voting places. Instead of waiting for the official report from each precinct, every TV station began forecasting results. Wide discrepancies in numbers among TV stations were later reported in Miyazaki Masahiro's E-Magazine article. Early returns in Pro-KMT stations showed that Pan-Blue team was ahead by hundreds of thousands of votes. The tide changed near the end and the Pan-Blue lead shrank. The final tabulation at 7:30 PM gave Pan-Green a razor thin margin of victory. Surprisingly, Lien immediately went on TV and roared, "The election is invalid." The audience was dumbfounded with their mouths wide open.

"The election was unfair! There are too many irregularities. The shooting was staged!" Lien continued to bark on the screen. Lien-Soong supporters began protesting at the Presidential Palace Square, just like the 2000 election. Obviously the riot in case of losing the election was pre-planned. DPP leaders persuaded supporters to remain calm and to hold back victory celebration so as to prevent confrontation with the Pan-Blue folks.

* Superior Court Sealed Ballot Boxes

Chen's narrow victory with less than 30,000 votes or 0.228% could not avoid a demand for recount. DPP had no objection to recount, but insisted to follow legal procedures.

"We demand immediate recount," Soong repeated. But the chairman of the Central Election Commission Huang Shih-Cheng replied, "According to the Election Law, a recount request can be filed only after the official announcement. The law states that the Committee must publish the official result within 15days. We will announce the result on March 26, therefore no one can file a recount request before March 26."

Disregarding the law, Lien-Soong coalition submitted a recount petition that very night. The Superior Court called emergency meeting and decided to seal ballot boxes for the possible future recount.

In a democratic country, the loser uses court process to settle disputes. One example was Al Gore's 2000 election loss to Bush in Florida. Taiwan has election laws. But Lien-Soong had no intension to obey the law. They resorted to mobilize a riot to resolve the dispute. They also longed for the power intervention from China. China would intervene with the excuse that Taiwanese are their subjects and they want to protect their people. Obviously Lien-Soong wants to win by any means.

* Instant Recount is Illegal

The Executive Yuan warned Pan-Blue camp to study election law and urged them to obey the law. Lien-Soong camp rejected the request. They opted to the mob instead of the law. They clearly understand there is no legitimate reason for the immediate recount, and they also know the court would reject their appeal.

"We demand to check every ballot box and count every vote,” Lien and Soong took turns agitating cohorts gathered in the Presidential Palace Square. Mr. Yu, the Head of Executive Yuan requested Taipei Mayor Ma In-Jeow to disperse the mob. Ma was in an awkward position because he is a KMT member and an apparent heir to the chairmanship. He responded with a lip service, but no action.

The civil disturbance also revealed Soong's conspiracy to weaken Ma's position. The loss of election means Lien will be forced to resign KMT chairmanship. Two potential candidates to the KMT chairmanship are the Speaker of the Legislative Yuan Wang Chin-Ping and Taipei Mayor Ma. But James Soong wants to merge his PFP with KMT, and then become the chairman of the combined party. His PFP was a splinter group divorced from KMT four years ago. He is notorious for his political maneuvers. Ma must act carefully not to fall into Song’s scheme.

* Staged Assassination

The assassination attempt clearly exposed the ruthless nature of Chinese race. They knew their accusations were baseless but hope one of many fabrications may succeed. They didn't hesitate to broadcast fabrications. The following are some of their absurd fabrications.

1. "President Chen had staged to be shot himself," declared Pan-Blue on the evening of March 19. The hospital countered with photos of Chen's wound and also his medical record. Two bullets recovered from Chen and Lu’s body are made of different materials. Bullets made of different materials suggested two guns were used, and this means there are two assassins. Again Pan-Blue group rejected the fact. However, they immediately changed the story to "The President was not injured, but his double was shot" and accused the hospital as a co-conspirator. PFP 's vice chairman Chang Chao-Hsiung, the flunky MD turned politician and Soong's puppy dog, went to the hospital and demanded to inspect Chen's wound. The hospital denied it and told him to go away.

2.On the Election Day, the assassination story changed to: "The President cut his own abdomen with a knife." which later changed to “A body guard shot him at a close range, so it would not kill him." and then again to "A doctor cut his belly with a scalpel." The fabrication kept changing. One must be amazed at their wild imagination.

3. On March 21, the KMT decided the shooting was by a single, mentally ill assailant. Two different bullets couldn't convince them. "We couldn't trust the government investigation," the Lien-Soong camp announced. They insisted to hire American specialists. Typical foreigner-worshipping Chinese psyche prevailed. The government rejected the idea, but later agreed under pressure.

4. On March 22, President Chen invited five Department heads to his office and showed his wound to them. Lien-Soong immediately demanded to see his wound and make it public on TV.

5. On March 23, the Bureau of Investigation reported that the shooting was not staged. Lien-Soong immediately demanded to form an investigative commission. The government rejected it.

6. After the initial investigation, the American specialist Dr. Henry Lee publicly stated: "The wound was definitely from a bullet. Two bullets were possibly fired from two different handguns." The Lien-Soong coalition was still not convinced and adamant to have another investigative team.

* Recount process: Executive Recount Vs. Judicial Recount

Without a proof of fraud, and without a set of rules to count votes, the recount cannot be validated. The loser would keep protesting; thus lawlessness and tyranny would continue. This will go on until Lien wins. There is no end in sight as there is no guarantee the recount will be more accurate than the first one; and the Pan-Blue will never accept the outcome unless they win.

Immediate recount without evidence was absurd. If the law was violated, the Supreme Court has the ultimate jurisdiction to order a recount. American law calls for automatic recount when the margin of victory was less than one percent. But there is no such specific law in Taiwan. Hence the demand of immediate recount is baseless.

Even if the Legislative Yuan pass a new election law, it cannot be applied to this election. To make a new law and then retrofit to the past election is absurd. But the Chen administration was willing to yield to the loser's demand, and agreed to make the new law retroactive.

* Lien’s Flip-flop Demand Puts the Legislative Yuan on a Ball

KMT and PFP had no consensus on the recount legislature issue. PFP objected to change the election law, insisted on instant recount. On the other hand, KMT preferred to proceed with the law change. But Lien suddenly shifted his position the next day. Instead of the time-consuming law change, he declared the election was illegal, but showed no proof. If the election was illegal, then there is no reason for recount after all. This is the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, not Lien’s. Realizing this, and it is also time-consuming, the KMT camp changed again to demand instant recount.

The court-approved recount is a judicial matter, but the instant recount ordered by the Central Election Commission is an executive matter. The judicial recount takes time, so they want the executive recount instead. But Lien-Soong sued the Central Election Committee, so if the executive recount is their choice, they must admit the recount be conducted by the so-called invalid Committee, which is clearly a contradiction. One can see inconsistency at every turn.

Furthermore, KMT also wanted prosecutors to join the recount. That made the recount a judicial-executive matter. The question, then, is which department has the responsibility and who has the final authority. Five different recount proposals were submitted within a few days. It’s like a roulette and Lien-Soong didn't know how to bet. They wanted to create confusion, not the recount.

* Lien-Soong Joint Press Conference with Foreign Reporters

On March 22 Lien-Soong invited foreign reporters to a press conference. "There was an illegal interference with the balloting," Lien offered. But, he couldn't cite specific evidence.

Lien repeated the charge: "The shooting was a fraud, staged to influence the voters." But he was the one recommend to proceed with voting when he heard the injury was not life threatening.

"We must obey democratic laws," Soong barked. His action was opposite to his preaching. His incitement of demonstration was unlawful. If there was illegal interference or voting irregularity, he should demand recount through the court. Demanding instant recount is illegal. His action was not to preserve the democracy but to make turmoil, and he called this riot "people's voice."

* Wang Chin-Ping Demands A "Presidential Emergency Decree"

The speaker of the Legislative Yuan Wang Chin-ping, being a KMT vice president, demanded President Chen to use Presidential Emergency Decree to authorize an immediate recount. People laughed. There is no evidence of illegal balloting, and KMT camp cannot prove it. Make a riot and then to make demand was ridiculous. People jeered that the chief lawmaker made such demand.

* Soong's Sedition

It is a nightmare to police 18 thousand ballot boxes throughout Taiwan from vote switching. There were rumors of ballot switching during the sealing process. The suspect is of course KMT camp, as they were notorious for vote switching. But KMT accused DPP switched votes. It would be difficult for DPP, as they lacked such experience, and local KMT township leaders watching the box sealing.

Soong wanted recount by pressure or by riot. They would steal the election in any way as they are “above the law.” Lien’s family became rich by hoarding lands in KMT era, and Soong amassed a fortune as the Governor of Taiwan. They demanded immediate recount, Chen's resignation, judicial recount, executive recount, judicial-executive recount, invalidate election, re-vote, etc. The demand changed daily with no end in sight. They would resort to any means; incite violence, invite Chinese military to intervene and invade Taiwan. The objective was not the recount, but to loot the presidency. They care no national interest but personal greed. The battle will continue.

* Chen Sui-Bian concede to Revise Election Laws

"I will sign the election law change passed by the Legislators and make it retroactive to the March 20 election," he declared on March 23. He also said he will be happy to meet Lien-Soong, if necessary. DPP leaders advised people to avoid confrontation with the mob.

* Supreme Court Rejected the Litigation

On March 23, the Supreme Court rejected Lien-Soong's litigation on the ground that no suit should be filed until after the official announcement of the election result, and asked the Pan-Blue folks to follow the legal procedure.

Lien-Soong supporters stormed the Tai-nan District Court under Chiu Yi’s leadership. He is a lawmaker of the PFP affiliation. The throngs crashed the police barricade with propaganda vehicle and rampaged the building. Many of Soong's cohorts were arrested.

* Lien-Soong Demand a Meeting with the President within 48 hours

On March 23, Soong demanded to meet with the President within 48 hours. He had no credential to make such a demand, as he is only a subordinate candidate and the chairman of the PFP. His arrogance is the proof of his belief: "Violence makes Democracy."

* Abortion of the Meeting

Responding to their demand, Chen agreed to meet Lien-Soong on March 26th. Delegates from three parties met to discuss the meeting format and agenda. The meeting was aborted when the man from the KMT, Lin Fong-Cheng insisted immediate recount and appointment of independent council for the assassination attempt. Apparently they wanted to pressure government into recount rather than constructive discussion, and they failed.

* Riot to Block Announcement of Election Results

The Central Election Commission had scheduled to publish the election result on March 26. "Pan-Blue" mob surrounded the Commission building and demanded to stop the announcement. Lee Ching-Hua, a PFP legislator, led the mob to storm the building, rampaged and ripped the Announcement, shouting democracy. It exposed the ugly Chinese psyche: rioting under the banner of democracy is justified. In China, a mob holding red flag is called just, but their act is to rebel against the red flag. Soong followed the Chinese scheme; "Shout democracy and go against it."

* Large Scale Demonstration Plan and Tumult on March 27

On March 26, the news media reported Lien-Soong's plan for a large-scale demonstration on March 27. Mob would crash the barricade with bulldozers and burn the Presidential building with gasoline bombs. Report also revealed the use of decoys dressed in green DPP jacket to mingle with the rioting crowd. Alarmed, the government put the highest level guarding order, and the law enforcement prepared to confront the tumult with a line of fire engines. Lien-Soong attempted to create maximum chaos and thus give China an excuse to intervene; China stated that "Taiwanese are Chinese citizens and their security is our responsibility." The heightened tension also alerted the United States to dispatch six B-52s to Guam to counter possible Chinese military movement.

* DPP Appealed Supporters To Remain Calm

Taiwanese who were infuriated by the lawless activities of Lien-Soong and they also made a plan to confront the protesters teeth for teeth. Warning the danger of falling into a Chinese trap, the Government persuaded Taiwanese to maintain calm. This appeal defused the confrontation.

* Public Backlash to “Lien-Soong Riot”

Ten days after the March 20 election criticism of Lien-Soong's riot started to appear in the media. Three American specialists examined Chen's wound, also conducted on-site investigation of the shooting. They concluded that Chen's injury was from a gunshot, and ruled out it was self-inflicted. A group of people filed a lawsuit against the KMT and PFP for damages incurred from the riot.

Gradually, the violence calmed down and people turned to query Lien-Soong’s responsibilities. But it did not mean the “Lien-Soong Riot” has ended. Chen's DPP could not even celebrate the victory. This is a sad history of Taiwan. I wonder when a Taiwanese can proudly say, "I am a Taiwanese!”