The son of Lien Chan, Kuomintang honorary chairman, made his first public appearance yesterday since being shot 15 days earlier at an election-eve campaign rally near Taipei.
Wearing a big surgical mask and with his wounds - one near his right temple and the other on his left cheek - covered with skin-coloured adhesive tape, Sean Lien Sheng-wen briefly met journalists in a what was seen as a bid to dispel rumours that the attack was staged and his wounds were fake.
'Thanks for the concern from all of you, and I feel happy to be able to live and see of all you,' Lien said, his eyes still swollen.
Asked how he felt, he said quietly: 'Still feeling painful,' before stepping into a car to head to the National Taiwan University Hospital for outpatient treatment.
His wife repeatedly asked journalists to avoid thrusting their microphones towards him.
Lien was shot on November 26 during a campaign rally in Yungho on the eve of the island's municipal elections. The gunman, identified as Lin Cheng-wei, grabbed him by the neck, shooting him at close range. The bullet, which entered through his left cheek and exited near his right temple, ultimately hit and killed a bystander.