A group of about 1,000 people yesterday protested in Kaohsiung’s Labor Park against China’s proposal to implement a “one country, two systems” framework in Taiwan.
The march, organized by Citizen Front Taiwan, also protested Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visits last month to China’s liaison offices in Hong Kong and Macau.
Critics said the visits were inappropriate and suggested that Han accepts China’s “one country, two systems” model.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
The protesters shouted “Today Hong Kong, tomorrow Taiwan” and “Reject ‘one country, two systems,’ resist Chinese annexation” and other slogans.
By visiting the offices and signing a memorandum of understanding on fruit exports with Chinese officials, Han is “returning to the old ways of [former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)] administration,” Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) told the crowd, accusing Han of “locking Taiwan into a ‘one China’ framework” in the name of boosting the economy.
Ma “placed all of Taiwan’s resources into China” during his presidency, like putting all of one’s eggs in one basket, Lin said.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
As a result, Taiwan’s economy became reliant on China, he said.
“Are we going to go back to the old ways?” he asked.
Han did not give prior notice of his visits to the offices, said Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan chairman Lee Ken-cheng (李根政), who also serves as an organizer of Citizen Front Taiwan.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
By entering the offices, Han “cooperated with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ‘united front’ strategy,” Lee said.
Biased information from China makes it impossible for people to access correct information, Citizen Front Taiwan organizer Shen Pai-yang (沈柏洋) said.
National security officials need to act on the “information war” the nation is facing. Many countries are slowly being infiltrated by China, but the most serious case is Taiwan, which is the least able to resist infiltration, he added.
Edith Cheung (鍾慧沁), who in September last year immigrated from Hong Kong, said Hong Kongers only became poorer after the “one country, two systems” model was implemented there.
Real-estate prices went up due to Chinese buyers, and young Hong Kongers, faced with competition from China, could not find jobs, she said.
Charng Mei (常美冰店), an ice cream store in Cishan District (旗山), showed its support by sending 300 popsicles to the protesters.
The Kaohsiung City Police Department dispatched 100 police officers to the park to prevent any clashes between the protesters and members of the public.
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
RSS