Amid overcast skies and a steady rain that fell for much of the afternoon, more than 200 Taiwanese converged on Times Square Saturday to call for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN, and to raise New Yorkers’ awareness of the island nation and its political struggles.
“If you want to love Taiwan, then you have to learn about Taiwan,” said Eric Tsai (蔡宗霖), 23, co-director of this year’s Keep Taiwan Free rally.
Tsai, who was born in California and grew up in Taiwan, said they also circulated two petitions among attendees: one to demand that Taiwan’s government amend a law requiring at least 50 percent voter turnout to pass a referendum, the other to ask that US Secretary of State John Kerry review the one-China policy recognizing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate representative of China.
Photo: Chris Fuchs
Since 1993, overseas Taiwanese in New York have participated in this annual rally, also attended by the Taiwan United Nations Alliance (台灣聯合國協進會). In the past, Tsai said, thousands of protesters would descend on the Manhattan streets outside the UN, which gave the island’s seat to the PRC in 1971.
Sovereignty
Taiwan is one of only three countries not in the UN. The PRC has repeatedly blocked efforts by Taiwan to join, arguing that the nation, which it views as a breakaway province, is not a sovereign nation.
Photo: Chris Fuchs
Organizers chose to hold this year’s event in Times Square and did not march to the UN since the 69th General Assembly does not convene until Sept. 16, Tsai said. They were also hoping to attract a younger generation of Taiwanese to augment the ranks of older participants who have been active in this movement for decades, he said.
The dreary weather Saturday did not dampen the spirits of those who attended the three-hour rally. To keep the crowd energized, live bands performed on a makeshift stage, penned in by metal police barricades, and the Taiwanese American Association of New York (大紐約區台灣同鄉會) Santaizi (三太子) Troupe, dressed in colorful head-to-toe costumes of various gods and deities, strutted their stuff in front of smiling protesters waving yellow-and-black flags that read Keep Taiwan Free.
Education
Photo: Chris Fuchs
This year’s event also helped educate everyday New Yorkers about Taiwan, organizers said. Dressed in Keep Taiwan Free t-shirts, many attendees lined up along the sidewalk barriers set up by police, handing out literature and flags to passersby as they made their way down 42 Street.
One participant, Melissa Daly, 23, said she made the trek in from nearby New Jersey with her friend Jenny Wang (汪采羿), her high school classmate, also 23, and the event’s other co-director. But Daly said she also has a personal investment in the movement — she is half-Taiwanese.
“When people think Taiwan is part of China, I always feel the need to say something,” said Daly, whose mother was born and raised in Taiwan.
Jason Chen, 23, also attended the rally after learning about it through his friend Daly. Like the others, Chen, whose parents are from Taiwan, echoed a similar sentiment that Taiwan should finally be allowed into the UN to join the international community of nations.
He also said he views himself as a cultural ambassador for Taiwan.
“When people ask, I try to be informative and paint a good picture of Taiwan and Taiwanese values,” Chen said.
In the long run, organizers explained, outreach to overseas Taiwanese and Americans alike is an important step toward countering the growing threat that China poses to this democratic island nation.
“It takes time,” Wang said. “But right now, we’re in Times Square. People are going to see this, and maybe they’ll Google it. It’s little events like this one that make a difference.”
US President Donald Trump may have hoped for an impromptu talk with his old friend Kim Jong-un during a recent trip to Asia, but analysts say the increasingly emboldened North Korean despot had few good reasons to join the photo-op. Trump sent repeated overtures to Kim during his barnstorming tour of Asia, saying he was “100 percent” open to a meeting and even bucking decades of US policy by conceding that North Korea was “sort of a nuclear power.” But Pyongyang kept mum on the invitation, instead firing off missiles and sending its foreign minister to Russia and Belarus, with whom it
When Taiwan was battered by storms this summer, the only crumb of comfort I could take was knowing that some advice I’d drafted several weeks earlier had been correct. Regarding the Southern Cross-Island Highway (南橫公路), a spectacular high-elevation route connecting Taiwan’s southwest with the country’s southeast, I’d written: “The precarious existence of this road cannot be overstated; those hoping to drive or ride all the way across should have a backup plan.” As this article was going to press, the middle section of the highway, between Meishankou (梅山口) in Kaohsiung and Siangyang (向陽) in Taitung County, was still closed to outsiders
Many people noticed the flood of pro-China propaganda across a number of venues in recent weeks that looks like a coordinated assault on US Taiwan policy. It does look like an effort intended to influence the US before the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) over the weekend. Jennifer Kavanagh’s piece in the New York Times in September appears to be the opening strike of the current campaign. She followed up last week in the Lowy Interpreter, blaming the US for causing the PRC to escalate in the Philippines and Taiwan, saying that as
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a dystopian, radical and dangerous conception of itself. Few are aware of this very fundamental difference between how they view power and how the rest of the world does. Even those of us who have lived in China sometimes fall back into the trap of viewing it through the lens of the power relationships common throughout the rest of the world, instead of understanding the CCP as it conceives of itself. Broadly speaking, the concepts of the people, race, culture, civilization, nation, government and religion are separate, though often overlapping and intertwined. A government
RSS