One day after the pan-blue camp announced it would organize a million person rally on March 13, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday denied the rally was aimed at countering the pan-green camp's momentum in the wake of the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally.
"The 313 rally is not meant to counter the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally, and is an activity that has been planned since the election campaign kicked off," Lien said at a press conference.
The success of the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally has evoked a sense of crisis in the pan-blue camp, since the two presidential candidates are running neck and neck in opinion polls, with President Chen Shui-bian (
According to local Chinese-language news reports, high-ranking members of the pan-blue camp have been worried about Lien's performance and decided on Monday evening that the pan-blue camp will launch a large-scale campaign rally on March 13, and aim to mobilize over 1 million people.
According to People First Party (PFP) Legislator Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國), who is also the campaign spokesman for the pan-blue camp, the 313 Rally will promote anti-"black gold" and anti-corruption efforts under the slogan "vote for change."
The leadership hopes to thereby boost the pan-blue camp's morale and increase its momentum.
The participants will shout out slogans such as "320, change the president" and "down with `black gold,' save Taiwan" at 3:20pm in northern, central and southern Taiwan simultaneously, Pang said.
Pang said they expect that each pan-blue legislator and city councilor will be able to mobilize around 500 supporters, as well as design special costumes for the participants.
PFP Chairman James Soong (
As for details about locations and transportation, the pan-blue camp said it has not yet decided on the full details.
"The 313 Rally is actually an expansion of the original campaign rally idea, since the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally made an impression on the KMT-PFP alliance," Pang said.
"We've gotten many comments from our supporters that they want to have a similar campaign rally so that they can show their enthusiasm for their candidates," Pang said.
Democratic Progressive Party campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (
Pang said that the pan-blue camp would welcome supporters of Chen should they choose to join the 313 Rally, as long as they obey the regulations set by the KMT-PFP alliance.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: MOFA demanded Beijing stop its military intimidation and ‘irrational behavior’ that endanger peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region The Presidential Office yesterday called on China to stop all “provocative acts,” saying ongoing Chinese military activity in the nearby waters of Taiwan was a “blatant disruption” of the “status quo” of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Defense officials said they have detected Chinese ships since Monday, both off Taiwan and farther out along the first island chain. They described the formations as two walls designed to demonstrate that the waters belong to China. The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it had detected 53 military aircraft operating around the nation over the past 24 hours, as well
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS