Taiwan held an election and a referendum. The referendum didn't mean anything because not enough people voted.

Incumbent President and Vice-President Chen Shui-bian and Anette Lu won the election by a tiny number votes. They were both shot and oh-so-lightly injured as they drove through the streets in a rally to encourage voters on Friday, but the election went ahead without delay on Saturday.

According to the Tapei Times, just over 80 percent of eligible voters turned out. It appears that KMT leader Lien Chan might contest the election result.

The controversial referendum that was held simultaneously with the election failed to get a valid result because not enough people voted:

The Tapei Times explains:

[The] first-ever referendum failed to get the number of voters necessary to make the result valid. Only 45.17 percent of eligible voters took part. The Referendum Law requires at least 50 percent of those eligible to cast votes to make the vote valid.

Perhaps not enough people could figure what the referendum was actually asking. These were the questions:

1. The Taiwan people demand that the cross-strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should mainland China refuse to dismantle the missiles targeting Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against us, do you agree that the government should purchase more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities?

2. Do you agree that our government should undertake negotiations with mainland China on the basis of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-strait interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples of both sides?

On the other side of the Taiwan Straits, Sohu.com published a rather bald statement from the Mainland's Office of Taiwan Affairs. Here is a rough translation:

The Taiwan area's leadership election has concluded. According to Taiwan media reports, one of the parties participating in the election believes that this was an "unfair election," and has decided to sue for "the election to be decalred invalid". 

We are now closely monitoring this situation.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post is asleep: the home page of their website is still carrying Friday's news about the shooting: the top headline is "I'm fine, says wounded Chen ... Now you must go and vote, says Lu".

The New York Times is on top of things: Taiwan's Leader Re-elected but Tally is Disputed.

The Hindustan Times is onto something completely different: Israeli defence on 'trust rebuilding' trip to China

An Israeli defence delegation is on a "trust rebuilding" trip to China, discussing the possibility of renewing defence ties.

The delegation headed by the director-general of the Defence Ministry Amos Yaron, has held talks with the Chinese defence minister, in a meeting which resulted in an agreement to maintain contacts, local media reported.

The visit is the first by defence officials since the resolution of a dispute between Beijing and Jerusalem over Israel's cancellation of the sale of the Phalcon radar system to China.

President Moshe Katsav earlier visited China in mid-December to break the ice on the chilled relations following Israeli compliance to an American dictate, cancelling the supply of the surveillance system.

The purpose of the visit is to test the waters regarding a renewal of security ties between the two countries.

The Defence Ministry described the trip as "a meeting designed to rebuild the trust between the two security agencies."

Reuters have their eyes on the money ball: China says really puzzled by U.S. WTO complaint:

BEIJING (Reuters) - China says it is puzzled by a U.S. complaint to the World Trade Organisation over a tax policy that Washington asserts is an unfair barrier to computer chip imports.

In a mild response free of any hint of retaliation, the Commerce Ministry said on Friday that China and the United States had held several rounds of talks on the issue of a value-added tax on semiconductors.

"In the normal course of bilateral consultations, the U.S. suddenly raised a request under the WTO dispute resolution mechanism. China really does not understand this," spokesman Chong Quan said in a statement.

But none of the major foreign news outlets are reporting anything about this:

A group of lawyers calling themselves the Open Constitution Initiative or OCI are using their website to report on arrest of Chen Yizhong, the editor-in-chief of Southern Metropolitan Daily and founding editor of The Beijing News. Chen was detained at 3am on March 19. (Click here to see the first and second issues of the Beijing News on Danwei.) OCI also reports that Yu Huafeng, General Manager of Southern Metropolitan Daily, was sentenced on March 19 to twelve years in prison for corruption and embezzlement.

OCI also has posted the text of a speech given by Chen Yizhong at a meeting to announce the founding of the Beijing News. Here is a rough translation of a part of the speech.

Now time is beginning! History has really started!

152 years ago, Henry J. Raymond founded the New York Times. 126 years ago, Eugene Meyer founded the Washington Post. 85 years ago, Shao Piaoping founded the Beijing News (jingbao - Shao Piaoping was a May 4th intellectual and one of the first Chinese media innovators. See this Ohio State University page for more information). 54 years ago, Guangming Daily (guangming ribao) and Southern Daily (nanfang ribao) were born at the dawn of new China.

Four months ago, Guangming and Southern fell in love at first sight. Three months ago, Guangming and Southern intertwined themselves like lovers. Three days later, on November 11, The Beijing News (xinjingbao) was born.

As in all marriages, there were people who welcomed the union, and there were people who did everything to break the couple apart. Not everyone welcomed this marriage: some are afraid of what the eventual result will be.

Nonetheless, the lovers got married.

The Beijing News is shouting out out loud and clear, breaking the thousand-year silence of this ancient capital!

Tianjin blogger Brainsmurf has a little more information on the affair, here. Read the comments, especially the one by deepocean1974.