The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it would mobilize 100,000 people to protest against the upcoming talks between Taiwan and China in Taichung next week.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) are scheduled to meet next Tuesday through Thursday for the fourth round of cross-strait talks.
DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that a protest march would be held this Sunday afternoon, with the demonstrators splitting into two groups and converging at a downtown parking lot at 5pm for a rally.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and four other senior party figures — former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premiers Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) — as well as Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), will join the protests.
The DPP will urge the government to “stop the closed-door talks and look after the people” and call on the public to “speak up and be the masters” of their own fate, the spokesman said.
Demonstrators will be encouraged to take pots and pans to the protest and create as much as noise as possible to convey their dissatisfaction with the government’s approach to cross-strait negotiations, he said.
“Those who care about issues relating to public livelihoods, those who are concerned about substandard products from China and the industries that would suffer as a result of the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA]” should come out on Sunday,” Tsai Chi-chang said.
“We demand that the public make the decisions in cross-strait talks and that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) listen to the public,” he said.
The goal is to mobilize 100,000 protesters, but the more the better, he said.
“While the protest will focus on making the public’s voice be heard, it will be peaceful and rational,” he added.
In related developments, an action alliance of several independence groups in central Taiwan said yesterday it would organize a group of human rights lawyers to provide the public with legal advice about their rights.
Chen said that many lawyers have misgivings about the upcoming cross-strait meeting and 16 lawyers have joined the group. If the government or police “go overboard” against the people, the lawyers will advise on ways to seek assistance and redress, he added.
DPP Taichung City councilors Chen Shu-hua (陳淑華), Lai Chia-wei (賴佳微) and Chi Li-yu (紀麗玉), who unfurled large protest banners last year at the hotel where the ARATS delegation was staying in Taipei, said excessive measures by police had spurred public outrage.
“If people are allowed to freely express their views, there will be no disturbance like last year’s, because Taiwanese are very friendly,” Lai said.
National Police Agency Deputy Director-General Liu Chin-chang (劉勤章) said that a designated zone for protesters would not be cordoned off and people would be allowed to move freely in and out of the area.
There will also be no body searches by police, except in special circumstances, Liu said.
During the SEF-ARATS talks in Taipei in November last year, Chen Yunlin was besieged by protesters at a Taipei hotel after attending a dinner party.
The Chinese delegation was unable to leave the hotel until after midnight, despite a strong police presence.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said earlier this month that this should not be allowed to happen again.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS