The leader of the self-governing East Asian island condemned violence following the deadly attack against a Taiwanese congregation in California.
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From across the Pacific, Taiwan's president castigates California shooting
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's president has condemned the shooting at a Taiwanese church in California by a man reportedly driven by hatred of the island, while a lawmaker from her ruling party questioned whether Chinese propaganda was a motivating factor behind the violence.
President Tsai Ing-wen's office issued a statement Tuesday saying she condemned "any form of violence," extended her condolences to those killed and injured and had asked the island's chief representative in the U.S. to fly to California to provide assistance.
The suspect in the shooting, David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, had ties to a Chinese-backed organization opposed to Taiwan's independence, according to Taiwanese media. Those details could not immediately be confirmed.
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Notes reflect the suspect's dislike of the island
Chou's hatred toward the island, documented in hand-written notes that authorities found, appears to have begun when he felt he wasn't treated well while living there.
A former neighbor said Chou's life unraveled after his wife left him and his mental health had been in decline.
Chou's family appeared to be among the roughly 1 million refugees from mainland China who moved to Taiwan at around the time of the Communist sweep to power on the mainland in 1949.
The former Japanese colony had only been handed over to Nationalist Chinese rule in 1945 at the end of World War II, and relations between mainlanders and native Taiwanese were often tense.
Separated by language and lifestyle, incidents of bullying and confrontation between the sides were frequent.
Many mainlander youth, who were concentrated in the major cities, joined violent organized crime gangs with ties to the military and Chinese secret societies, in part to defend themselves against Taiwanese rivals.
The Presbyterian Church is the most prominent of the Christian dominations in Taiwan and was closely identified with the pro-democracy movement under decades of martial law era and later with the Taiwan independence cause.
