By Ralph Jennings TAIPEI, May 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan, normally hostile to China, is experiencing a rare moment of sympathy for its earthquake-hit neighbour, fed by an unrelenting stream of shocking photos and footage of quake victims in local media. The mainstream United Daily News ran a graphic, full-colour front-page photo on Friday of a writhing 10-year-old girl after her leg had been amputated in China's Sichuan province. Taiwan's four dailies and six bitterly competitive TV networks have shown images of bloodied bodies trapped under rubble and parents wailing as they discover dead children since the magnitude 7.9 quake struck on Monday. Add to these pictures of Taiwan-registered aircraft planning to fly supplies and personnel into the quake-affected region, where more than 50,000 are believed to have been killed, and the result is a rare surge of China sympathy in Taiwan. "The news on TV all shows how terrible the damage is in Sichuan and how many people are making efforts to help," said Jill Jiang, who is self employed and living in Taipei. "I feel very sorry for these people and I'd really like to know anything I can do to help," she said, adding that she planned to make a donation to the Rotary Club. China and Taiwan, which China claims as its own, have a history of fractious relations. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. But the nearly non-stop TV images, due partly to fierce media competition, have prompted people in Taiwan to donate money, supplies and search and rescue personnel. "Audiences are thinking that except for Sichuan, there is no other news in the world," said George Hou, a mass communications lecturer at I-Shou University in Taiwan. "There will be those who sympathise and feel concern for China." Taiwan's government is offering T$2 billion ($71 million) in aid to China, while the public has massed another T$2.2 billion, local media said. Taiwan companies and entrepreneurs are pledging nearly 300 million yuan ($42.9 million). "People here will see the Chinese as victims and forget about (riots in) Tibet and other faux pas by the government," said Lin Chong-pin, president of the Taipei-based Foundation on International and Cross-strait Studies. TV showed a China Airlines <2610.TW> cargo plane that flew Taiwan Red Cross supplies directly from Taipei to Chengdu, near the quake area, unloading crates packed with 100 tonnes of relief supplies on Thursday. Due to security concerns, aircraft seldom fly direct between Taiwan and China. On Friday, media reported that a Red Cross-Mandarin Airlines flight was due to carry 22 Taiwan search and rescue volunteers to reach Chengdu, directly from Taipei. "For cross-Strait ties, not just now but in the long term, we will definitely reach a new understanding and sense of mutual benefit," Red Cross media official Lin Hsiu-fen said. (Editing by Valerie Lee)
Soldiers rescue a man who survived in the rubble of a chemical factory in Shifang, Sichuan province May 16, 2008. China struggled to bury its dead and help tens of thousands ...
