Presidential Office in crisis: Chinese Internet users laud Chen's indictment as a sign of democracy

In response to the indictment of first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and three former and incumbent officials of the Presidential Office, people in China began an enthusiastic discussion on the Internet about the topic, although Chinese media has not reported much about the case.

Some Internet users praised Taiwan as a wonderful place, since Taiwanese prosecutors could dare to indict the first lady and other top government officials.

Others give their blessing to Taiwanese people in the campaign against corruption.

"This is a real example of using a constitutional democratic system against corruption," posted a surfer in a Chinese chatroom online. "Taiwan is the pride of Chinese democracy. We give our blessing to the Taiwanese people."

Another Chinese Internet surfer wrote that China must catch up with Taiwan, since its anti-corruption efforts is only at the provincial level now, comparing Wu's case to that of former Shanghai top leader Chen Liangyu (陳良宇), who was fired for corruption in September.

After Wu was officially indicted, Beijing's Xinhua news agency ran a news brief about the case and another about Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) comments regarding the topic.

A Chinese journalist in Beijing says that the Chinese government does not want to report on the issue, as it may trigger anger over corruption by Chinese Communist Party officials.