Taiwan Vote Dispute Roils Asia

Opposition activists refused to disband protests Monday until authorities agree to re-count Taiwan's weekend presidential election, won by the incumbent one day after he was lightly wounded in a shooting that critics say influenced the vote.

Governments in the region said they hoped that the political turmoil over President Chen Shui-bian's narrow re-election victory Saturday would not lead to greater tension between the island and archrival China.

Chen, who campaigned on a China-bashing platform, won with just 50.1 percent of the vote, compared to 49.9 percent for opposition candidate Lien Chan, who has pushed for a more conciliatory approach toward China. The margin was just 30,000 votes.

The opposition said voting was marred both by Friday's mysterious shooting and by voting irregularities. They say the attack unfairly earned Chen sympathy votes, and Lien raised questions about more than 330,000 ballots that allegedly were spoiled.

"The whole world is concerned over whether Taiwan has had a fair election," Lien's running-mate, James Soong, said early Monday while visiting opposition activists rallied near the Presidential Office to demand a recount.

Later Monday, Lien demanded that the president meet with him to discuss the fraud allegations "for the sake of stability, democracy and clean politics."

Lien has already petitioned for the election results to be nullified, and it could take months for the courts to decide how to respond. The High Court ordered all ballot boxes sealed to preserve evidence, but did not immediately order a recount.

The election dispute cast a cloud over Taiwan's stock market, which had already stopped trading for the day on Friday when Chen was shot. The market's main index plunged 6.7 percent Monday, close to the daily limit of 7 percent. Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea were also down.

Adding to the atmosphere of uncertainty, Taiwan's defense minister, Tang Yiau-ming, asked to resign because of eye problems, but the government later said it had succeeded in persuading Tang to stay on.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer urged Chen to act with "a very great degree of moderation" in dealings with China, which wants Taiwan to rejoin the mainland.

"I think the last thing any of us want in the Asia-Pacific region is an escalation of tension between Taiwan and mainland China," Downer said.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for moves toward stability. "It is important that the confusion there ends quickly," he said.

The U.S. State Department congratulated Taiwan "for having conducted a democratic election campaign and for having exercised their democratic voting rights in such large numbers."

"We are confident that both sides and their supporters will remain calm, and that they will use the established legal mechanisms to resolve any questions about the election results," the U.S. statement said.

Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were shot and slightly wounded on the eve of the ballot while riding in an open Jeep in Chen's hometown of Tainan. Nobody has been arrested, and police have not identified any suspects.

Chen's opponents have raised questions about the shooting, according to The New York Times. They think it is suspicious that Chen and Lu both received only superficial wounds despite being hit by bullets, and they wonder why Chen was not brought to the hospital designated as the facility in case the president is injured.

Lien has demanded that the government form a task force with medical and criminal experts to investigate the attack.

To head off speculation that Chen staged the shooting, his office released photographs of his wounds, and prosecutors said tests had shown that two bullets found at the scene had been fired from a gun and were the ones that injured Chen and Lu.

The opposition believes the shooting may have given Chen the edge he needed to win.

But a referendum championed by Chen and also held Saturday failed because many voters decided to boycott it. The ballot question — Taiwan's first island-wide referendum — was fiercely opposed by Beijing, which saw it as a rehearsal for a vote on Taiwan independence.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and China wants the island to rejoin the mainland and has threatened military action if it moves toward independence. The ballot question asked whether to beef up Taiwan's military defenses against China.

Lien's party argued that Chen did not have the legal authority to call the referendum and successfully rallied Taiwanese to skip the vote.

Lien's supporters scuffled with police in central and southern Taiwan after the election results were announced late Saturday, and an estimated 10,000 convened Sunday in front of the Presidential Office to call for an immediate recount.

But demonstrations in Taipei have been peaceful, unlike demonstrations in the capital after the 2000 presidential election. After that vote, supporters of the losing Nationalist Party threw eggs and sticks at police and roughed up several party officials.

The number of protesters dwindled Monday morning as people went to work and school, but by evening the crowd swelled again to about 10,000. Showing their determination to stay, protesters set up a dozen of colorful tents carrying the words "Not going home without a re-count."

Lien told reporters the crowd was beyond his control. "I don't think I can end the protest."

The United States officially supports a "One China" policy and discourages moves to make Taiwan independent.

But under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. sends military equipment to Taiwan that would be used repel a Chinese invasion. Total U.S. sales to Taiwan were $553 million in 2001, according to an online database.