The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally, with 2 million people taking to the streets, set a record hard to surpass in the history of Taiwan's democratic development. What role do the 2 million participants of the rally play in the presidential election? What impact do they have? Well, we'll know the answer on March 20.
Seeing the crowds that day, the pan-blue camp could not be more worried. Although it tried to comfort itself by saying that "polls are of reference value only," it immediately emulated the pan-green camp by planning to hold a nationwide march tomorrow.
The pan-blue camp first branded the march as an "anti-corruption parade." Later, it changed the official slogan to "change the president and salvage Taiwan." Obviously, the camp has felt the pressure presented by the 228 rally and also needs to mobilize its supporters to get out of the predicament.
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the PFP themselves represent the force most connected with gangsters and business interests. Their anti-corruption move is tantamount to exposing their own wrongdoings for public scrutiny and ridicule. That's why they quickly changed their slogan to "change the president and salvage Taiwan."
With their motives behind altering the theme of the activity so obvious, PFP Legislator Lee Yong-ping (
Is the anti-corruption theme really not broad enough? It actually served as one of the major campaign themes for the DPP in the 2000 presidential election. It was also the reason behind Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh's (李遠哲) stepping forward to stump for then-candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Even many KMT figures admitted that the party has paid the price for its corruption with the loss of power. So the statement that the anti-corruption theme is not broad enough does not stand.
A few days ago, Taiwan Pineapple Group vice-chairman Huang Tsung-hung (
The reason why the human-chain rally could attract so many people is because the appeal of "protecting Taiwan hand-in-hand" touched the hearts of the Taiwanese people. Marketing theories contend that the most successful advertisements usually awaken the deepest desires of human beings. The success of the hand-in-hand rally lies in its successful eliciting of the deepest aspirations of the Taiwanese people.
Then, how about the slogan of "change the president and salvage Taiwan?" Burdened with the history of corruption, the KMT-PFP alliance can only mobilize those "reunification fundamentalists" to join in the march.
Let's wait and see how large a supporting base the pan-blue camp has even with its most thorough and effective mobilization. Let's see whether "changing the president" makes a more appealing appeal than "protecting Taiwan hand-in-hand." The 313 march provides the most stringent test for the pan-blue camp.
Chin Heng-wei is editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
Translated by Jennie Shih
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) are expected to meet this month in Paris to prepare for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). According to media reports, the two sides would discuss issues such as the potential purchase of Boeing aircraft by China, increasing imports of US soybeans and the latest impacts of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. However, recent US military action against Iran has added uncertainty to the Trump-Xi summit. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) called the joint US-Israeli airstrikes and the
RSS