New Delhi shooting won’t stop Taiwanese from visiting India

TAIPEI - Taiwan media gave wide coverage Monday to the incident in New Delhi in which two members of a Taiwanese film crew were shot, but some people said the incident would not stop them from visiting India.

The United Daily News carried seven related stories, one analysing terrorist attacks in India and another warning that the two Taiwanese victims might be infected with the superbug in Indian hospitals.

But some travel agents and Taiwanese are not overly concerned.

“This is an isolated incident. It will not affect Taiwan people’s interest in visiting India,” Yeh Ting-lin, chairman of the Shih Chun Travel, said.

“Terrorist attacks usually target Americans and Europeans. Generally speaking, Taiwan tourists are safe,” he added.

Chou Mei-li, head of the Friends of Tibet, said the shooting will not scare Taiwanese who travel to India to visit Buddhist temples or to see the Dalai Lama.

“I also think this is an isolated incident, and the target of the shooting was not Taiwanese,” she added.

The Foreign Ministry urged Taiwanese to mind travelers’ personal safety when in India, but did not issue a travel alert.

India is a favourite travel destination for Taiwanese. Nearly 30,000 Taiwanese visit India each year for sightseeing or business.

Some of the tourists are “religious tourists”, like Buddhist pilgrims, disciples of the Dalai Lama or disciples of late spiritual leader Osho.

According to the Dalai Lama’s representative office in Taipei, there are half a million students of Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan, and the number is increasing.

“Every year, some 1,000 Taiwanese travel as a group to Dharamsala to attend Buddhist lectures given by the Dalai Lama,” said Sonam Dorji, secretary-general of the representative office.

The shooting occurred Sunday morning outside the Jama Masjid in New Delhi.

A Taiwan TV crew had just stepped out of a coach when two masked men arrived on a motorbike, fired on the mosque and at the coach before speeding off.

One cameraman was hit in the abdomen, while the other was grazed in the back by a bullet. The condition of both men was stable.

A few hours after the shooting, an Islamic militant group issued a statement and threatened to attack the Commonwealth Games scheduled to begin in New Delhi October 3-14, with 7,000 athletes and 100,000 tourists.