Taiwan President rejects war with China; protesters attack Chinese envoy

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou spoke to a group of high-ranking military officers on Tuesday and said there would be no war with rival China in his first four-year term. Ma's comments came after pro-independence protesters in southern Taiwan assaulted an envoy from rival China earlier on Tuesday, pushing him to the ground while shouting that their island does not belong to Beijing. The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait comes amid rapidly improving relations between Beijing and Taipei under the new administration of President Ma. A spokesman for Ma deplored the attack, saying that "The presidential office expresses regrets over the incident and condemns the violence stirred up by a small number of people."