The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday pledged that its protest against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) upcoming trip to China will be peaceful.
"We will call on our supporters to be rational and stage the demonstration peacefully," said TSU lawmaker David Huang (黃適卓). "We'd also like to see the New Party reciprocate and ask its supporters to refrain from being provocative and deliberately inciting violence, or they will have to shoulder the political responsibility."
The TSU has called on its supporters to bring eggs to CKS International Airport to "see off" Lien on Tuesday, when he leaves the country for his eight-day trip.
In a bid to thwart the TSU's plan, the New Party has vowed to launch a counter-protest, saying that it does not rule out the possibility of mobilizing gravel trucks and bulldozers in its cause.
Although Huang said that he is not certain how many people will eventually turn up, his party has so far booked five 45-person buses and he believes that more than 1,000 people will participate.
In a bid to test Lien's political stance and his "psychological state" to see whether he is fit for making the trip, Huang posed eight questions, which he says he hopes Lien will answer openly.
"If he receives a failing grade, we'll be certain that he will jeopardize Taiwan's national interests and fall into the snare of China's unification schemes during his trip," he said.
Those questions are: Do you think the relationship between Taiwan and China is a domestic affair or an international one? What do you think of China's proposal that it will help us enter the World Health Assembly (WHA) as a "social group"? Who do you think has the final say on the future of Taiwan? Do you dare to ask Hu to push for China's democratization? Do you dare to express the concern of the international community over China's poor human rights record and suppression of religious freedom? What do you plan to say to Hu regarding its missiles targeted at Taiwan? How do you react to Hu's reiteration of the "one China" policy? What will you say to Hu about the "Anti-Secession" Law?
When asked to speculate on what score Lien would get on the test, Huang said that he suspects Lien would score zero out of a possible 100.
TSU Legislator Tseng Tsan-teng (曾燦燈) said that his party is most concerned about the transparency of Lien's talks with Chinese authorities during his visit.
"The public is still being kept in the dark about what issues he will discuss with Chinese authorities," he said. "It is not impossible that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will promise Lien the position of head of the Taiwan special administrative region."
If that is the case, Tseng said that he is afraid that the pan-blue camp's "soft coup" attempted after last year's presidential election may eventually become a genuine one.
Tseng also expressed his apprehension over Lien's "swaying" political stance.
Tseng said that when Lien was running for the presidency last year, he sprawled on the ground and kissed it to signify his love for this land.
But after losing the election his attitude quickly changed as he leaned toward Beijing's "one China" principle.
"It is natural for us as well as the people of Taiwan to question his position on the nation's sovereignty," Tseng said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RSS