President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday encouraged Taiwanese people of all ethnic backgrounds to join hands in a 1-million-person chain at a rally on Feb. 28 as an expression of Taiwan's opposition to the missile threat posed by China.
Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party's national campaign headquarters, Chen said the purpose of holding such an event was to invite the people of Taiwan to protect the cross-strait status quo.
"The homeland which the Taiwanese people have strived hard to build has been overshadowed by China's military threat, which is increasing day by day. We can't pretend we are not aware of it, nor can we take it as a matter of course. If we keep being silent, we will be regarded as approving" of this threat, he said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Therefore, each Taiwanese has a right to tell the world and the Beijing authorities that we want peace and not war."
While reiterating his intention to hold the referendum, Chen said the event also aims to promote ethnic unity in this joint effort to protect Taiwan.
"Through this activity, everyone holds hands together -- as if each of our five fingers represents the ethnic groups of Hakka, Chinese mainlanders, Minnan, Aboriginals and the foreign expatriates. All people will join together to protect Taiwan," Chen said.
He said that through decades of social and cultural integration of various ethnic forces in Taiwan, the nation had developed a unique identity, one that recognizes multicultural assimilation.
Commenting on the sensitive ethnic and identity issues that have long been regarded as a source of division, Chen said, "Taiwan doesn't have an ethnic issue, all it has is an issue of national identity that certain politicians refuse to recognize."
He said some politicians denied honoring such an identity and have distorted the identity issue into an ethnic one, trying to inflame ethnic confrontation.
"This merely shows their equivocal attitudes on national identity, undermining not only the social harmony of Taiwan, but also bringing unpredictable dangers to Taiwan when China threatens to swallow the country," Chen said.
"Taiwan's sovereignty and international position need to be defended by all the people of Taiwan, especially when China increases its oppression of us," the president said.
The rally's organizers are hoping to arrange for 1 million people to hold hands along the north-south provincial highway from Keelung County to Pingtung County, a distance of 500km.
Also called the "228 Hand-in-Hand Rally," the event will seek to break the world record for the longest human chain since the Baltic Chain in 1989, when the people of the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, formed a human chain to express their opposition to interference by the Russian Army.
A rehearsal is planned for tomorrow in Tainan County, in which 70,000 people will form a chain 63km long, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (
"The success of the rehearsal will help boost people's confidence and motivate more people from other cities and counties to join the event," Su said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS