Marchers send message to China

Shu also blasted some Taiwanese for echoing China's excuses and even saying that it was Taiwan that had compelled China to move to enact the legislation.

"This notion inverts cause and effect," Shu said. "In fact, `Taiwan' is the common ground of the Taiwanese people. Only by continuing to promote changing the nation's name and making a new constitution does Taiwan have a future.

Several DPP politicians also took part in the march and rally yesterday. DPP Secretary-General Chang Yu-jen (張郁仁), who was selected by Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to take part in the event, as well as Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊), DPP Legislators Trong Chai (蔡同榮) and Wang Sing-nan (王幸男), who are known as a pro-independence hardliners, all joined in the march.

Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who is a DPP member, said that Taiwan has to learn from the case of Hong Kong, which had received a promise from China that the situation in Hong Kong would remain unchanged at least 50 years after the handover from the UK.