The campaign aimed at ousting President Chen Shui-bian (
Protesters had pledged to stay on Ketagalan Boulevard until they were "dragged away" by the police.
Shih Ming-teh (
"We are willing to yield to make things easier for Mayor Ma and the police," Shih said on Ketagalan Boulevard.
Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chun (
The police department said it planned to deploy 1,500 police officers to maintain order as the crowd traveled to the station.
Ma yesterday lauded campaign organizers for their willingness to cooperate with the city government, while declining to confirm speculation by CTI TV that Shih had agreed to leave Ketagalan Boulevard after a phone conversation with the Taipei mayor.
As Shih's campaign prepared for its nationwide tour yesterday, which departs from Taipei tomorrow with Hsinchu City as its first stop, Wei Yao-chian (
Shih, meanwhile, lashed out at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials, including Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), for refusing to grant the movement access to certain locations.
"Yang used to hold protests around the nation with me, and now he is trying to repress the people's right to express their opinions ... How dare you?" Shih said.
Yang, before attending the DPP's Central Executive Committee meeting yesterday afternoon, told the press that he would not approve requests to assemble or march from the Shih camp.
He said he expected conflicts to occur because county police were understaffed after some 300 officers were sent to Kaohsiung City last week to assist in controlling clashes between Shih's followers and Chen's supporters.
Yang said the anti-Chen protests organized by Shih's "red army" had delivered a blow to his county's economy.
While a Japanese company had expressed interest in relocating a plant from China to Kaohsiung County, Yang said he was distraught to learn that the firm had ultimately decided to go elsewhere because of the on-going anti-Chen protests.
Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (
Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (
Meanwhile, in a related development, Chen Feng-nan (
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS