Scholar cancels Taiwan trip after mob assault
22/10/2008 17:13
The mainland scholar who was assaulted by a mob yesterday in Taiwan
canceled the rest of his trip and flew back to the mainland.
Zhang Mingqing,
dean of Xiamen University's Journalism School, left his hotel this morning to
depart from Kaohsiung airport.
He said he felt hurt and uncomfortable and
wanted a medical exam in Beijing.
Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), saw Zhang off.
Zhang, also deputy chief of
the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS),
said he felt uneasy having so many policemen guarding him against possible
attacks.
"It might cost a lot," Zhang said.
A Taiwan legislator of the
Democratic Progressive Party representing Tainan city, allegedly incited a mob
which closed in on Zhang, shoving him to the ground during a tour yesterday
morning of a Confucius temple.
"This violence would not be supported by the
23 million Taiwanese people," Zhang said, adding that any activities of
sabotaging stable development of the cross-Strait relations would lead to a
failure.
During his three-day stay in Tainan, Zhang said, he was quite
impressed with the hospitality of people there. He was also pleased to hear
local opinions condemning the assault.
Zhang recalled that after the massive
earthquake on May 12 in Sichuan, he rushed to the area and helped transfer 2,848
Taiwan travelers to safer places, including 14 from Tainan.
"If any of the 14
travelers were on the spot where I was assaulted, they would have stopped the
violence," Zhang said.
Zhang was invited to visit the island by a university
in Taiwan.
Xinhua
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