The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Party held separate rallies on Sunday with similar themes, the former calling for social stability and support for the police and the latter championing the rule of law.
Organizers and participants argued that the protests of the past months, including the Sunflower movement, the various “occupation” and “passing-by” campaigns targeting different government agencies and the Legislative Yuan siege, were illegal and lacked respect for the rule of law.
They said that the street protests had not only jeopardized social stability and harmony but also disrupted people’s lives by paralyzing traffic and mass transit systems, while many shops were unable to open.
In the New Party rally, participants waved the national flag and chanted “I love the Republic of China (ROC).” The actions of some student protesters in the Sunflower movement who hung the national flag upside down and publicly voiced support for Taiwanese independence were unpatriotic and unacceptable, they said, adding that student leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) were “Fascists.”
Intriguingly, the KMT rally became a mass campaign for former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), the KMT’s candidate for the Taipei mayoral election, with Lien urging supporters to use their votes to “teach those who attempted to challenge ‘the system’ a lesson” in the year-end elections.
The themes, causes and arguments of the rallies have completely missed the point.
First, the protesters, like President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, have failed — or refused to understand the root cause of the intensifying spirit underpinning the movement.
The reason protesters resorted to the extremes of occupying the legislature, organizing a siege of a police precinct station and blocking lawmakers from leaving the legislative compound — all forms of civil disobedience — was that they had exhausted all possiblities within “the system” and did not get adequate responses from the government.
By definition, civil disobedience is a refusal to obey certain laws with the awareness that the actions are illegal and are subject to punishment, including prison terms and fines. The disobedience would not be justifiable if it were not staged for a higher cause than opposition to the government.
So far the protests have been able to focus on the unconstitutional actions of the Ma administration, such as its failure to respect legislative supervision and the separation of powers, its excessive use of state force, its distortion of the rule of law, its ignorance of national security in engagement with China and the handling of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
With the Constitution being the fundamental law of the country, the constitutional order should also be on a higher echelon than social order.
While the clash between the protesters and the police was unfortunate, it was the Ma administration’s failure to respond to the public which necessitated the formation of these social movements. Additionally, resentment of the police was aimed at those who used excessive force against the protesters rather than the entire police force. The National Police Agency’s inaction against those officers who overused batons only exacerbated the situation.
National identity was not the central theme of recent social movements despite the undertone of anti-China sentiment and even though protesters did mention support for independence and raise the national flag upside down as a symbol of a “nation in crisis.”
Wrong interpretation of the movement shows the disconnection between the pan-blue camp and Taiwanese. The most frightening scenario would be if the pan-blue camp did understand what the social movement is all about yet deliberately made it a partisan issue for the benefit of future elections.
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Victory in conflict requires mastery of two “balances”: First, the balance of power, and second, the balance of error, or making sure that you do not make the most mistakes, thus helping your enemy’s victory. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made a decisive and potentially fatal error by making an enemy of the Jewish Nation, centered today in the State of Israel but historically one of the great civilizations extending back at least 3,000 years. Mind you, no Israeli leader has ever publicly declared that “China is our enemy,” but on October 28, 2025, self-described Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) propaganda
Lockheed Martin on Tuesday responded to concerns over delayed shipments of F-16V Block 70 jets, saying it had added extra shifts on its production lines to accelerate progress. The Ministry of National Defense on Monday said that delivery of all 66 F-16V Block 70 jets — originally expected by the end of next year — would be pushed back due to production line relocations and global supply chain disruptions. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that Taiwan and the US are working to resolve the delays, adding that 50 of the aircraft are in production, with 10 scheduled for flight
RSS