Taipei: A Chinese envoy who was shoved to the
ground by a pro-independence politician on his last visit to
Taiwan shrugged off the incident as he returned to the island
on Sunday.
"I respected Taiwan`s judicial ruling" on the attack,
Zhang Mingqing, the vice president of China`s quasi-official
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said after
flying into Taoyuan airport.
The incident occurred in October 2008 when Wang Ting-yu,
a councillor in Tainan, and a group of his supporters pushed
Zhang over as the Chinese envoy was touring the southern
Taiwanese city, a hotbed of anti-China feeling.
The fracas was caught on camera and triggered fury in
China, with the Beijing government calling for "severe
punishment" of the attackers.
Wang was convicted of assault in September last year and
sentenced to a four-month jail term. On appeal, that was
reduced to a fine of 122,000 Taiwan dollars (USD 3,800).
The incident came at a time when Taiwan, under the
leadership of Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, had
been working hard to improve relations with China. The two
sides signed a historic trade pact in June.
PTI
