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TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was shot while campaigning on Friday, a day before a presidential election, but was not in critical condition, his spokesman told Reuters.
Chen had been rushed to hospital in the southern city of Tainan, officials said. Vice President Annette Lu was also wounded, but her condition was not yet known. "It was a gunshot but he is not in critical condition," presidential spokesman James Huang told Reuters.
An official at Chi Mei hospital in the president's hometown of Tainan said Chen's motorcade had raced into the compound, which has now been closed off.
"The bullet hit the vice president in the knee first, then the president," Wang Hsin-nan, a lawmaker from Chen's Democratic Progressive Party told TVBS television.
Chen, 54, had sustained a deep 30-cm (12-inch) wound across the stomach, said Wang, who was traveling in Chen's motorcade.
Chen was able to walk into the emergency room unaided while the vice president required assistance, one witness told television.
The incident occurred at about 1:50 p.m. (0550 GMT), officials said.
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, which espouses an aggressive policy of independence from China, is battling for re-election against Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan, who favors a conciliatory approach to the island's giant foe.
Taiwan's third presidential elections to be held under universal suffrage were set for Saturday.
Officials of the Central Election Commission were not available to comment.
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"Honey, I've blown a guy just to get him outta my house."
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