TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has been rushed to hospital after being shot while campaigning for Saturday's election, the Presidential Office says.
Chen was shot in the stomach at 1:45 p.m. (0545 GMT) Friday but his condition was not critical, his office said. The office said the president was conscious and that Chen had urged for calm. A presidential spokesman said weekend elections would go on as planned. Vice President Annette Lu was also was reported as wounded, but her condition was not yet known. Chen and Lu had been driving on the back of an open vehicle in the president's hometown of Tainan when an unknown gunman opened fire. There was initial confusion, with reports saying Chen had been injured by an errant exploding firecracker. Firecrackers are a feature of the campaign trail in Tawain. Chen has been campaigning for a second term after four years in office. On Saturday, Taiwan holds presidential elections and a controversial referendum that China considers a harbinger for a vote on the island's independence. The referendum will ask voters to considern if China should reduce its military threat against the island. Chen has ignored warnings from Washington and Beijing not to take any steps that could fuel tensions with mainland China. More details soon.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has arrived back in Taipei after surviving an apparent assassination attempt in the southern city of Tainan.
Chen was released from hospital Friday after being shot and wounded while campaigning for Saturday's national election.
Chen's running mate, Vice President Annette Lu, was also treated for a gun wound and later discharged from hospital.
"Both the president and vice president have just checked out," a spokeswoman at the Chi Mei hospital in the southern city of Tainan, Chen's hometown, told Reuters.
No arrests were reported and it was not clear who fired on Chen and Lu.
Chen was shot in the stomach at 1:45 p.m. (0545 GMT), the Presidential Office said. Lu's leg was grazed by a bullet.
The office said both Chen and Lu had called for calm after the shooting.
"They did not suffer life-threatening injuries. They urge the public to cool down," Chiou I-jen, secretary-general in the Presidential Office, told a news conference.
Chiou said the elections would go on as planned, but the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and opposition Kuomintang party had both temporarily suspended their election campaigns.
Chen and Lu had been riding in the back of a convertible four-wheel drive vehicle in Tainan when an unknown attacker or attackers opened fire.
The crowd was cheering as Chen and Lu waved from the back of their vehicle, and fireworks were being set off along the route as the candidates passed.
Presidential spokesman James Huang told CNN nobody heard any gunshots or initially realized the leaders had been wounded because of the noise from the firecrackers. No arrests have yet been made.
Video from the parade showed a bullet hole in the windshield of the vehicle. Blood can be seen on the president's jacket as someone holds a cloth to the bullet wound on the right side of his waist.
Doctors at the Chi Mei hospital displayed a picture of a wound cutting across the front Chen's belly that was about four inches (11 cms) long and just under an inch (2 cms) deep and wide. Another picture showed a doctor holding the bullet slug in his palm.
"We were shocked and we didn't anticipate this type of event occurring only 24 hours before the election," Huang told CNN.
"I guess most people in Taiwan are shocked and they are very concerned about the security of their president and vice president."
Huang said Taiwan's armed forces had been placed on high alert and the National Security Council held an emergency meeting.
Opposition presidential candidate Lien Chan condemned the shooting and extended his best wishes.
"We are all shocked by the incident ... We all condemn this act of violence. On the other hand, we wish them a quick recovery," he said.
Chen has been campaigning for a second term after four years in office.
Along with the presidential election, a controversial referendum that China considers a harbinger for a vote on the island's independence will be held Saturday.
The referendum will ask voters to consider if China should reduce its military threat against the island.
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Chen has ignored warnings from Washington and Beijing not to take any steps that could fuel tensions with China.
Chen and his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party swept to power in 2000, ousting the Nationalist Party, which ruled the island for five decades and opposes Taiwan independence.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -- Taiwan will hold its first-ever referendum to coincide with Saturday's presidential election in a move that has infuriated arch-foe China and alarmed the United States.
Beijing, which says Taiwan is a renegade province that must be recovered, by force if necessary, views the ballot as a dry run for a vote on independence that could lead to war.
Parliament passed a referendum law last November that allows the president to call a "defensive referendum" when he deems Taiwan's sovereignty is under external threat.
Chen says China's deployment of 496 missiles aimed at Taiwan constitutes a national security threat.
Opposition presidential contender Lien Chan, who is running neck-and-neck with Chen, declared the referendum illegal and meaningless. His party is airing advertisements urging supporters not to vote in the referendum.
The referendum will ask voters two questions.
1. The People of Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should mainland China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against us, would you agree that the government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defence capabilities?
2. Would you agree that our government should engage in negotiation with mainland China on the establishment of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-Strait interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples on both sides?
The referendum will be rendered void if fewer than 50 percent of voters collect a referendum ballot paper. Picking up a paper ballot constitutes as taking part in the referendum.
The referendum is approved if more than 50 percent of those who take part cast yes votes.
A total of 16,497,746 voters are eligible to vote in the referendum. Results are expected by 10 p.m. (1400 GMT).
CNN Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy
TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- As campaigning for elections hits full swing across Taiwan the unfolding political drama is reverberating in capitals as far away as Beijing and Washington.
Diplomats, security experts and political analysts say the outcome of the March 20 elections could provoke a major international crisis, in the worst case leading to war between China and the United States.
"Taiwan is probably the most dangerous situation in East Asia at this point," Kenneth Lieberthal, a former U.S. National Security Council Member, says.
"This is really the only place in East Asia where I think there is a real possibility that we could see military conflict in the next couple of years if things go badly."
The roots of this explosive situation date back more than half a century when the Chinese Communists took power in Beijing but failed to capture Taiwan.
For years, both sides have lived with an uneasy status quo.
China claimed sovereignty over the island, just 100 miles (62 kilometers) from the mainland, but was willing to tolerate its separate existence as long as Taiwan did not move towards formal independence.
Now, though, President Chen Shui-bian, in a close re-election fight with opposition leader Lien Chan, appears to be doing just that.
While Lien has talked about reconciliation with Beijing, Chen has built his campaign around keeping Taiwan separate from China.
Chen has asked voters to endorse a referendum authorizing a military buildup to counter Beijing's forces and has called for a new constitution -- all steps China sees as leading to the independence it has vowed to use force to prevent.
Before the 1996 presidential election, Beijing fired missiles near Taiwan to deter pro-independence sentiment, prompting the Clinton administration to deploy aircraft carriers in the western Pacific.
Now the signs are that Beijing is even more frustrated.
"This one is more dangerous than the 1996 missile crisis," political analyst Andrew Yang told CNN.
"Because if China decided to use force it is not only exercises, it is not bluffing, it is not intimidation. It is a decision to use force to damage Taiwan, and make Taiwan to come to the negotiating table with China."
The Bush administration, which is committed to defending Taiwan, could find itself dragged into a conflict it desperately wants to avoid.
"If Chen Shui-bian is re-elected, and he continues with his policy of consolidating Taiwan's sovereignty and independence, it could lead to a confrontation with China that is totally unnecessary, and certainly not needed by the United States at this point," Michael Swaine of the Carnegie Endowment says.
The election is on Saturday. And with so much at stake, opinion polls say the race is too close to call.