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
From the Iran war and nuclear weapons to tariffs and artificial intelligence, the agenda for this week’s Beijing summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is packed. Xi would almost certainly bring up Taiwan, if only to demonstrate his inflexibility on the matter. However, no one needs to meet with Xi face-to-face to understand his stance. A visit to the National Museum of China in Beijing — in particular, the “Road to Rejuvenation” exhibition, which chronicles the rise and rule of the Chinese Communist Party — might be even more revealing. Xi took the members
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Friday used their legislative majority to push their version of a special defense budget bill to fund the purchase of US military equipment, with the combined spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.78 billion). The bill, which fell short of the Executive Yuan’s NT$1.25 trillion request, was passed by a 59-0 margin with 48 abstentions in the 113-seat legislature. KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who reportedly met with TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) for a private meeting before holding a joint post-vote news conference, was said to have mobilized her
The inter-Korean relationship, long defined by national division, offers the clearest mirror within East Asia for cross-strait relations. Yet even there, reunification language is breaking down. The South Korean government disclosed on Wednesday last week that North Korea’s constitutional revision in March had deleted references to reunification and added a territorial clause defining its border with South Korea. South Korea is also seriously debating whether national reunification with North Korea is still necessary. On April 27, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung marked the eighth anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration, the 2018 inter-Korean agreement in which the two Koreas pledged to
I wrote this before US President Donald Trump embarked on his uneventful state visit to China on Thursday. So, I shall confine my observations to the joint US-Philippine military exercise of April 20 through May 8, known collectively as “Balikatan 2026.” This year’s Balikatan was notable for its “firsts.” First, it was conducted primarily with Taiwan in mind, not the Philippines or even the South China Sea. It also showed that in the Pacific, America’s alliance network is still robust. Allies are enthusiastic about America’s renewed leadership in the region. Nine decades ago, in 1936, America had neither military strength
RSS