“China not involved in detention of Chen”
Was China involved in the detention of A-Bian? The China Post writes:
“China denied any connection between its warming ties with Taiwan’s government and the detention Wednesday of the island’s former pro-independence president. Chen Shui-bian is reviled by the mainland’s Communist authorities for rejecting their assertion that Taiwan is Chinese territory and his arrest is likely to cheer them and could boost their relations with the island, but the public response from Beijing has been muted. Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters that Beijing “had noted” Chen’s detention amid a corruption scandal, but she expressed no opinion on the allegations against him. Fan rejected Chen’s claim that his detention was linked to moves to improve ties between the two sides, which split during a civil war in 1949, calling that “a pure fabrication.” “I think we can all imagine the reasons why he would say something like that,” Fan said at a regularly scheduled news conference.” [more]