Taiwan’s ex-president ordered detained

updated 11:58 a.m. ET Nov. 11, 2008

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A court ordered the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges Wednesday, marking an ignominious fall for the man who incensed China and roiled the United States with his contentious pro-independence policies.

Chen was expected to be sent to Tucheng Jail, the suburban Taipei facility where as a dissident leader 21 years ago he served eight months for defaming an official of the ruling Nationalist Party during the waning days of Taiwan's infamous martial law regime.

Under Taiwanese law, Chen can be detained for up to four months. His detention does not constitute a formal indictment.

Legal proceedings against Chen — including a prosecutorial interrogation — extended for nearly 21 hours from start to finish.

Interrupted by injury complaint
They were interrupted for several hours after the former leader complained that he had been injured while being transported from a prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei to the nearby court building.

He was returned to the court after doctors found he had sustained only a minor muscle tear that required no special treatment, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.

Wednesday's court order against Chen has implications far beyond Taiwan, where he is reviled by millions for his apparent toleration for corruption, but lionized by millions of others for his willingness to stand up to both Chinese threats and American opposition to his anti-China line.

Chen, who has denied any wrongdoing in the corruption case against him, is an ardent supporter of Taiwanese independence, a cause decried by Beijing, which insists that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. China has threatened war if the island moves to make its 59-year break with the mainland permanent.

Chen has also earned repeated condemnation from the United States, Taiwan's most important foreign partner. Despite shifting its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, Washington remains committed to helping the island defend itself against a Chinese attack. During Chen's just concluded presidency, it saw him as a loose cannon who could well provoke a Chinese invasion across the 100-mile-(160-kilometer)wide Taiwan Strait.

Denies policies are provocative
Chen himself denies any insinuation that his pro-independence policies are provocative.

He defiantly predicted his arrest late Monday, and then early Tuesday, attempted to link it to alleged attempts by newly installed Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to placate China in the wake of violent protests last week against a visiting Chinese envoy.

"Long live Taiwanese democracy," Chen declared to his supporters outside the prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei. "Long live Taiwanese independence."

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