Thousands took to the streets to pronounce their anti-independence stance yesterday after Saturday's march calling for the Republic of China (ROC) to adopt "Taiwan" as its official name.
Demonstrators in yesterday morning's event defended the ROC name, and activists in a separate march in the afternoon called on citizens to "oppose Taiwan independence in order to save Taiwan."
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The scale of yesterday's two rallies, however, was far short of Saturday's demonstration, which organizers estimate drew up to 150,000. According to the Taipei City Police Department, about 7,000 joined the morning rally, and over 3,000 participated in the afternoon march.
The crowd in the morning rally, most of whom were carrying ROC flags, gathered at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
Both Chiang Fang Chih-yi (
"Whoever said that the Republic of China does not exist anymore is an enemy of the state. We can never let other countries think that rectifying Taiwan's name is what the Taiwanese majority wants," Chiang said.
"The Republic of China lives on Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. It was established as the first democratic and free country in Asia through the efforts of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and many others. The country was established in 1911 and that is a historical fact," she said.
Yok said that he loved the Republic of China and those attending the march.
"No one here approves of rushing reunification. Those rushing independence are really rushing reunification," Yok said.
Meanwhile, the march in the afternoon was convened by the pro-communist Chinese Unification Alliance (
"We want to ask the government to drop the budget for military purchases and use the money for better welfare instead since China is really not an enemy. We also want a better economy," said Hsieh Hsiang-wen (謝向文), spokesman for the alliance.
The alliance also condemned what it sees as the US and Japan's manipulation of Taiwan, saying the two countries were trying to encourage Taiwan's independence and the separation of Taiwan from China.
Many high-school students, absent from most political activities in the country, attended the march. But when asked why they went to the event, many said they were urged to do so by their friends.
"We want to be sunny teenagers," said one student.
Another said, "A friend urged us to come so we came along. It's fun and my friends get to be together."
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat