Taiwanese students and expatriates in 49 cities across 21 countries organized rallies timed to coincide with Sunday’s demonstration in Taipei, as part of a global networking campaign to support the “Sunflower student movement.”
Calling it “24-Hour Relay Across the Globe in Support of Taiwan,” the worldwide rallies saw Taiwanese and other participants shouting the same slogans as their counterparts in Taipei: “Protecting Taiwan’s Democracy,” and “Withdraw the Trade Deal,” which gained press coverage and wide circulation among online social media.
Some students held up placards that read: “Taiwan is not for sale,” “Transparency, Democracy and National Security for Taiwan” in support of the movement which started with protesters occupying the legislature in Taipei on March 18.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The worldwide networking rally began in Australia and New Zealand on Sunday morning, with events in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and other locations.
The international relay proceeded through the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukuoka, South Korea’s Seoul and Busan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and other Asian countries.
Hong Kong organizers said the protesters received an enthusiastic response, with more than 1,000 people joining the rally.
Photo: CNA
After some speeches, they marched from Causeway Bay to the Charter Garden next to the Legislative Council building.
As the day progressed, Taiwanese in Europe joined the global effort, with notable rallies in Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Madrid and Stockholm.
The relay culminated in North America, with US events taking place in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities, as well as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
More than 100 Taiwanese students and Taiwanese-Americans gathered in front of Washington’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
Despite the freezing rain and subzero temperatures, they performed street theater skits, handed out sunflowers to passersby and delivered a petition to the office.
Washington organizer Chao Tse-hua (趙澤華) said he is a student at Pennsylvania State University.
“We drove four hours from Pennsylvania to DC. We just want those students in Taiwan fighting for democracy to know that people abroad support their cause,” Chao said.
In New York City’s Times Square, about 400 people joined a mass sing-along and conveyed their messages in slogans, while holding sunflowers.
In the UK, more than 300 students and overseas Taiwanese headed to Trafalgar Square in London. They presented musical entertainment to the audience and vocalized their support of the Sunflower movement.
The event in Berlin took place at Alexanderplatz, a public square and transport hub, and was organized by Taiwanese university students.
Calling themselves the “3.30 Berlin Action Group,” organizers said more than 300 people joined in their rally, with a series of public discussions and lectures on the cross-strait agreement, the pros and cons of free trade, Taiwan’s human rights situation and its democratic governance system.
The largest event in Japan was held at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, where more than 700 people joined a rally.
Taiwanese students and expatriates in Tokyo were joined by their Japanese friends to call for the withdrawal of the cross-strait pact, shouting slogans in support of the Sunflower movement.
Additional reporting by Tsao Yu-fen, Hu Hui-ning and Chang Mao-shen
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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