Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he would play a low-key role in an upcoming protest organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other pro-localization groups.
The demonstration is to take place on Saturday, with the theme of “rejecting the one China market, the downgrading of Taiwan’s sovereignty and an incompetent government.”
Chen, who is embroiled in a money laundering scandal, has said that he would attend Saturday’s protest. Chen’s decision has divided the DPP and the organizers. Some said the planned rally should distance itself from Chen, while others argued that Chen had every right to participate as long as he identified himself with the theme of the event.
PHOTO: CNA
DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Wednesday that anyone who supported the rally’s goals was welcome to take part, whether or not they support Chen.
Chen yesterday urged the public to participate in the demonstration.
While attending the annual meeting of the association of Tainan County residents living in Taipei yesterday morning, Chen, a native of Tainan County, said he would follow the instructions of the organizers, particularly the authority of Tsai.
Chen said he totally agreed with the theme of the upcoming event and that he would not do anything that would deviate from the theme.
He asked the organizers to rest assured because he said he would not grab the spotlight by “seizing the microphone” or “seeking the opportunity to speak on stage.”
In Taipei, the DPP and a number of pro-localization groups held a joint press conference yesterday, calling on the public to take part in the demonstration “to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
“The DPP has repeatedly reminded President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government that its governance is in crisis, but the government seemed not to heed the warning, so the DPP has to call on the public to take to the streets and warn the government with a big demonstration,” Tsai told the press conference, which was held on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office yesterday.
Tsai, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Lin Jhi-jia (林志嘉) and officials from pro-localization groups held up three banners that read “a state becomes local region,” “president becomes mister” and “food becomes black hearted” in criticism of Ma’s recent remarks on cross-strait issues and a stream of tainted imports from China.
The DPP has also accused Ma of sacrificing Taiwan’s sovereignty by adopting a “modus vivendi” approach that advocates a “diplomatic truce” with China and introducing a series of cross-strait liberalization measures since his May 20 inauguration.
These measures include launching nonstop cross-strait charter flights on weekends, opening Taiwan up to more Chinese tourists, allowing cross-strait currency trading, raising the cap on China-bound investment by local enterprises from 40 percent of their net worth to 60 percent and recognizing Chinese academic degrees.
It is also unsatisfied with what it says is the Ma administration’s failure to take a tough stance in dealing with the melamine scare.
The Taiwan Society secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the demonstration on Saturday will be a display of people power, and will allow the people’s voice to be heard.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
CASE COUNT: The deceased had advised law enforcement agencies regarding 60 fraud cases this year, leading to the confiscation of NT$9.3 billion in alleged illegal proceeds Prosecutors yesterday launched an investigation into the death of cryptocurrency expert Miffy Chen (陳梅慧), who died in a car crash on Wednesday under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances following her work with law enforcement to track down NT$9.3 billion (US$286.97 million) in alleged illegal proceeds. Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) tasked the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office with investigating the incident following requests from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and other agencies with which she worked to crack several prominent cases involving financial fraud and money laundering. Chen was killed in a six-car pileup near Hsinchu in the northbound lanes of Sun
RSS