About 10,000 people yesterday rallied in front of Kaohsiung’s National Stadium for a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) event themed “Against Chinese Annexation; Protect Taiwan, Against [Chinese] intervention [in elections], Protect Kaohsiung.”
The event started with a performance by Golden Melody Award winner Yan Yung-neng (嚴詠能), a Kaohsiung native, and his band Takaorun (打狗亂歌團).
Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said that for years, China has colluded with unification-minded forces in Taiwan to sow discord in Taiwanese society.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
She urged the public to stay alert to “nefarious Chinese forces” that she said have been spreading disinformation on the Internet to manipulate the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections and to take a firm stand against such forces.
“The year-end elections top the list of Taiwan’s priorities. We must shatter China’s ambitions and showcase our steadfast resolve as we send it a clear message: Taiwanese will not allow China to annex Taiwan,” she said.
DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that people around the world are paying attention to Taiwan for three reasons.
First, as the effects of the US-China trade war on Taiwan’s economic development begin to show, many Taiwanese businesses in China are thinking about moving back and investing in Kaohsiung, he said.
Winbond Electronics Corp has announced an investment in the planned Ciaotou Science Park (橋頭科學園區) in Kaohsiung, which is an opportunity to grow the city and its economy, he said.
Second, the Chinese military has sailed and flown around Taiwan as it vies with the US for dominance in the South China Sea, posing a military threat to Taiwan, which has stoked up widespread antipathy among Taiwanese, he said.
Third, online disinformation factories with IP addresses in China have sought to interfere in the elections, posting “fake news” that has made its way to Taiwan and beyond, he said, adding that his Facebook page has been under continuous attack by the so-called “50 cent army” of Chinese state-sponsored Internet users.
“As the world waits to see what kind of decision Kaohsiung residents make, we must vote in a way that shows the world that Taiwan is an independent and autonomous nation. We must protect Kaohsiung against disinformation,” Chen told the crowd.
After chanting slogans, participants set out on a march on World Games Boulevard in a show of solidarity.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) yesterday said the DPP was trying to salvage its campaign in Kaohsiung with a China-focused march.
When the DPP was in the opposition, it solicited votes from supporters of independence, but it promptly ditched the concept of Taiwanese independence after taking office, Hung said.
Such reversals are what prompted the pro-independence Formosa Alliance to hold a rally in Taipei yesterday, he said, adding that the march in Kaohsiung leaned on the DPP’s “bag of old tricks” of vilifying the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party.
“The people will not be fooled again and will make the right judgment with their ballot,” Hung said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang
‘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
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
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
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