Saying that the main problem obstructing the UN referendum issue originated in China and not the US, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged everyone in Taiwan to focus on the right target.
"We are not taking aim at the US or US President George W. Bush. The enemy is China and the Chinese Communist Party," Chen said on a visit to Taichung yesterday.
"China is the dictator that does not want to talk about democracy and ignores the will of 23 million Taiwanese ... it is China that's stopping Taiwan from joining the UN," he said.
Democratization is what scares China the most, and democracy's most concrete expression is a referendum, Chen said, adding that, as a sovereign country, Taiwan had the right to join the UN.
The nation's 15th annual bid to join the world body will be put before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
In a videoconference with the Overseas Press Club of America in New York last night, Chen said that the US had been the first to change Taiwan's official title.
He said that when Taiwanese apply for a US visa with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), they list their nationality as "Republic of China" on the application form, but when they receive the visa their country of origin is given as "Taiwan."
"Why is it acceptable for the US to change our country's name, but when we ourselves want to change our country's name, it is considered wrong?" Chen asked.
DPP RALLY
Earlier yesterday, Chen urged people to take part in the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) rally to be held in Kaohsiung this afternoon in support of the party's UN referendum proposal on entering the UN under the name "Taiwan."
The rally today is scheduled to start at the intersection of Chungshan and Minsheng roads in Kaohsiung at 4pm and head north along Chungshan and Bo-ai roads to the intersection of Bo-ai and Shennung roads.
In addition to Chen, senior pan-green camp politicians including Vice President Annette Lu (
Chen is to deliver a speech at the rally that will be transmitted via a live video uplink to a similar event in front of the UN's New York headquarters.
The DPP has said it expected 500,000 people at the rally.
In response to the scale of the rally, the Kaohsiung Police Bureau plans to implement traffic controls in the afternoon and evening. No vehicles will be allowed south to Chungcheng Fourth Road, north to Wufu Third Road, west to Linsen First Road and east to Chunghua Third Road between 1pm and 7pm.
The youth department of Hsieh's office yesterday launched a campaign titled "Taiwan, My Country" and presented a campaign logo in the form of a burning phoenix, which the department said symbolized the transformation of Taiwan.
"Most young people in Taiwan now believe that Taiwan is a nation and that Taiwan's voice must be heard," the youth department's chief executive officer Chang Chia-ling (
Another logo, using a fire motif, was also unveiled, carrying the slogan "I love Taiwan love me" (我愛台灣愛我).
Chang said the logo symbolized that patriotism should become a fashionable idea in Taiwan.
At a separate setting yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus Secretary-General Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) accused the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York of mobilizing Taiwanese students in the US to participate in the rally at the UN headquarters.
The office even offered students between US$20 and US$75 as compensation, Kuo said.
In response, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
Huang said that promoting Taiwan's participation in the UN was a government policy and that the government held similar rallies or campaigns every year.
KMT RALLY
The KMT plans to hold its own rally this afternoon in Taichung to promote its proposed referendum on returning to the UN and other international organizations.
The rally will start at 4pm at 823 Park and march toward the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, where a party is to be held until 9pm.
The KMT has created 10 floats for the rally featuring different themes to highlight civic problems, such as credit card debt and the suicide rate.
KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with