China media breaks silence on Taiwan election crisis

BEIJING - China's state media broke days of silence on Taiwan's election turmoil on Thursday with a dispatch extolling opposition protests against the vote, narrowly won by Beijing's nemesis President Chen Shui-bian.

"Tens of thousands of Taiwan people amass in protest," the Beijing Morning Post screamed in a page two headline, adding in a sub-heading: "Suspicions the election was unfair".

The Post and some other papers ran an overnight report by the official Xinhua news agency, the first account of the aftermath of the March 20 election since a terse report hours after the vote.

While China has refrained from comment on the result of the election to avoid playing into Chen's hands, the factual report was a clear sign of support for Nationalist candidate Lien Chan and thousands of his backers who remain outside Chen's offices.

"Because they believe the election of the leaders of the Taiwan region unfair, tens of thousands of Taiwan residents have taken to the streets in mass protests which have gone on for four consecutive days," the report began.

"The protesters demanded the Taiwan authority immediately conduct a full and public recount of the vote, and investigate and make public the truth about the shooting of Taiwan leaders Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu."

China deems Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened force to bring it back into the fold. Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but trade, investment and tourism have blossomed since the late 1980s.

Shortly after the vote, Beijing condemned Chen for holding the island's first referendum alongside the presidential elections, but said only that it was closely monitoring post-election developments. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry stressed that no matter who won, Taiwan belonged to China.

However, Thursday's report detailed the opposition objections to Chen's victory, including accusations that the shooting on election eve was "suspicious" and that after the incident many military and police were unable to vote because of a security alert.

"Most of the servicemen and policeman are widely considered supporters of the opposition coalition candidates," it said.

"The protesters vowed to continue their protests until the authorities accept their demands," it concluded.

- REUTERS