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Annette Lu says that she was the assassin's target

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday told foreign guests that the she was actually the priority target in the election-eve assassination attempt.

"All evidence has proved that I was the first target to be shot (on March 19), yet many people still promoted their theories against me, which makes me feel like I'm being assassinated again," Lu said yesterday at a Presidential Office reception for a Singapore think tank.

Despite theories by the police and other government investigators that the shooter was aiming at President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the vice president told guests that while the whole truth of the incident remains unknown, it is clear that she was the shooters' first target.

She said the disputes over the shooting incident and their effect on the presidential election should be treated as a serious issue by all countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and thanked her guests for their expressions of concern.

Lu stressed that the obstacles to Taiwan's democratic development can hardly be imagined by people of other countries, citing her experiences of being jailed for participating in opposition activities and developing cancer due to her intense commitment to leading the nation's feminist movement.

"I had never thought that I would be shot on the eve of the election," Lu said, "and I was able to survive because of a miracle."

She said that the country's democracy, freedom, progress and prosperity are not presents given by the gods, but are hard-won fruits earned by the efforts of all Taiwanese people.

"Taiwan is an independent country, whether other countries in the world admit it or not," she said, "and our efforts to seek democracy and peace will not surrender to any violence or military threat."

"The international community and some individual countries always adopt their own perspective to understand Taiwan, so I would like to provide the Taiwanese view to assist those foreign guests and countries in understanding Taiwan," Lu said.
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