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Taiwan's stock market closed, Clinton's visit canceled

A wave of terrorist attacks in the United States shut down the Taiwanese stock market on Wednesday and prompted former US President Bill Clinton to postpone a four-day visit to Taiwan.

The attacks also caused the cancellation of US-bound flights and the closure of the American Institute in Taiwan, which functions as the US Embassy on the island. Since the attacks began Tuesday evening local time, Taiwan's 24-hour cable news stations have provided nonstop coverage of the events. The stations replayed the footage of one hijacked airliner slamming into the World Trade Center, which was already in flames from another plane crashing into the building minutes earlier.

Taiwanese television also showed scenes of another plane attack on the Pentagon and the smoldering wreckage of a fourth hijacked plane that crashed outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Clinton planned to arrive in Taiwan late Wednesday, but his trip has been postponed indefinitely, said the United Daily News. The Mandarin-language newspaper had invited Clinton to its 50th anniversary celebration and he was to give a speech on Saturday.

The former US president was in Australia when the attacks happened and he urged Americans to rally behind President George W Bush.

``We should not be second-guessing. We should be supporting him,'' Clinton said in a telephone interview.

Late Tuesday night, Taiwan's top officials held an emergency meeting and decided to close the island's stock and futures markets on Wednesday. Taiwan's Ministry of Finance will meet later Wednesday to decide when to reopen the markets, Vice Finance Minister Sean Chen (陳沖) said. The Taiwanese markets are closely tied to US financial markets, which were closed at least through Wednesday. Markets in Europe, which were still open when the attacks occurred, sank on the news.

When the hijackings happened, Taiwanese Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) was planning to return to Taiwan after visiting the island's allies in the Caribbean. Chang's flight was grounded in Hawaii as all US airports were closed.

``I want to express our condolences to the victims' family,'' Chang told reporters by telephone.

The premier said that the Taiwanese government would do everything possible to protect the safety of US and other foreign offices in Taiwan. Chang noted that five Taiwanese banks had branch offices in the World Trade Center and that officials were checking on the status of the employees.

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