The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday mobilized nearly 500,000 people from southern Taiwan to march in Kaohsiung's streets to campaign for President Chen Shui-bian's (
"This is the last battle between native power and alien authority," former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said during last night's rally. "This will be the end for those conservative forces in Taiwan, who have irrationally attacked President Chen -- the son of Taiwan -- in their attempt to steal back political power."
Commenting on the pan-blue camp's rally yesterday for opposing Chen Shui-bian, Lee said that the Taiwanese people have had enough of the conservative forces echoing China with their threats.
"Their influence will be completely eliminated, because the waves of democracy are unstoppable and will spread in each generation," Lee said. "We should not be scared by the final flailings of the alien authority. We must unite and strengthen our resolution to sweep it away from Taiwan."
Lee's remarks and appeals earned excited applause from rally participants and brought the rally to a climax.
The DPP's heavyweights also made speeches to encourage supporters to safeguard their hard-won power, as embodied by Chen's administration, saying that a completely democratic Taiwan will be the ultimate hope for China.
"Only with the success of the referendum can the entire world realize what Taiwan's people really want," said Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷). "Only the success of Taiwan's referendum can be a beacon for the people of China toward a democratic future."
To taunt the pan-blue camp's vice presidential candidate, James Soong (
"Unless Soong is willing to kneel to the Beijing authority and ask China to withdraw its ballistic missiles targeted at Taiwan, then we have no idea why a politician should have to kneel or cry so much," Hsieh said.
Countless supporters gathered in Kaohsiung beginning at noon yesterday and launched parades from four locations.
The contingent of marchers crowded streets and yelled slogans such as "Believe in the People and Believe in Taiwan" and "Vote for A-bian." They waved banners, flags and placards to express their support for Chen and the referendum. Even teams of motorcycles and cars joined the march, lending the rally a carnival-like atmosphere of chaos and excitement.
"Our 228 Hand-in-Hand rally was like a carnival to open our minds and invite everyone to guard Taiwan," Chen said. "But the pan blues at their 313 Rally just made fists and showed angry faces.
"2000 saw the historic peaceful transfer of power. Now we are going to see another historic event in realizing the referendum," Chen said.
"The 228 Hand-in-hand rally showed how Taiwanese love their country ... Taiwan's democracy can never be defeated by China's authoritarianism, Taiwan's referendum cannot be defeated by China's missiles," Chen said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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