A pro-independence group yesterday called on 100,000 people to participate in Saturday's rally on Ketagalan Boulevard to counter the sit-in initiated by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Chet Yang (
"[The rally will be] held to safeguard the Taiwanese government and universal ideals of freedom, democracy, stability and prosperity," he said. "We will not allow anyone to infringe upon these universal ideals, nor the authority of the Presidential Office and the [Chen] administration."
Yang said the theme of the rally would be love, hope and light, which indicated that participants in the event were on the side of "the light," while demonstrators in the anti-Chen campaign were on the side of "darkness."
"We want to offer the people of Taiwan a different option," he said. "The thumbs-down gesture of Shih's demonstration signifies that [the movement] is doomed to political impotence, but our gesture symbolizes that Taiwan and its people are always in our hearts," he said.
The gesture suggested for the pro-independence event involves using the index and middle fingers of the right hand to draw a circle in the air before placing them over the heart.
Yang said neither Taiwan nor Chen would be defeated by Shih's protest, because the Taiwan Society and the people of Taiwan would stand up to voice their opposition.
Organizers of Saturday's pro-independence event also previewed an advertisement which will be shown on TV today to encourage those who have so far remained silent to come out and take a stand.
The message they wanted to get across in the ad, Yang said, was that they opposed sinicization but wanted stability, that they opposed revolution but wanted law and order and that they opposed social unrest but wanted to improve the economy.
Officials from the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, DPP headquarters and DPP legislative caucus met at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon to discuss how to respond to the anti-Chen protest.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that everyone agreed to support the Taiwan Society rally, but emphasized that every effort must be made to avoid possible conflicts.
He said the DPP Central Standing Committee would discuss whether to mobilize people for the rally at its meeting today.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS