Declaring that it would continue the pursuit of the "truth" behind last year's assassination attempt on the president and vice president, the pan-blue camp yesterday rallied supporters in a return to Ketagalan Boulevard yesterday on the anniversary of the incident it claims decided the presidential election.
Speaking at the "319 Democracy, Peace and Truth" rally yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweights called for the establishment of a new committee in the legislature to investigate the matter.
Speaking on China's "Anti-Secession" Law, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) blamed the Taiwanese government's "independence activities" for the tensions across the Taiwan Strait, saying that peace was the common wish of the Taiwanese people.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"It has already been a year. We are here today, not for any one person or party, but to take responsibility for our nation's history on behalf of the people. Political parties, including the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) can, in an unfair and unjust election, lose once. We can be lied to and deceived; this is something we cannot change. But the people and our society cannot afford to lose. We must seek justice for the sake of our nation's history," Lien told supporters.
Thousands of pan-blue supporters, backed by gangsters from Mainlander organized-crime groups, staged demonstrations that lasted for weeks in front of the Presidential Office. They were protesting what they claimed to be the suspicious circumstances surrounding the March 19 shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) as well as the subsequent narrow pan-green election victory.
Yesterday, the pan-blue camp criticized the Chen administration for "blocking" its efforts to discover the "truth" behind the assassination attempt.
A committee set up by the legislature last year to investigate the shooting faced many difficulties because the administration refused to cooperate with it, Lien said.
"How is it possible that public servants have the right to deny the requests of an organization created for the people?" Lien asked.
Thus, he said, legislation should be passed establishing a second committee.
Lien said the administration and its pro-independence actions had prompted the Anti-Secession Law. However, he said, the Taiwanese people do not want to declare independence and China should understand that certain political figures do not represent the majority.
"Since China has said it hopes to end the standoff across the Strait, we must acknowledge that if we do not declare independence, China will not take military action," he said.
After finishing his remarks, Lien wiped tears from his eyes.
Also at yesterday's rally, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The Legislative Yuan will do its best to find out the truth about the shooting through passing a statute so that the committee may be re-established according to the law," Wang said.
Wang attributed the dissolution of the committee to obstacles such as the Constitutional Court finding an article in its statute unconstitutional, as well as the government's refusal to assist the investigation.
"The committee did not last because of a lack of manpower, resources and finances," Wang said.
Ma, who took the stage immediately after Wang, also called for a second investigative committee.
He said Taipei City Government was the only government body that had provided assistance to the committee during its deliberations.
"Every level of government refused to help the committee, with the exception of the Taipei City Government. The reason why we lent a hand was because we wanted to find out the truth," Ma said.
One incident leads to another, Ma said. If the shooting had not happened, cross-strait ties would not have deteriorated and China would not have passed the law.
The march began at Sungshan Tobacco Factory at 2:30pm. Sporting national flags, black balloons and headbands saying "Democracy, peace and truth," the marchers walked along Zhongxiao East Road and Renai Road before arriving at the evening rally.
Also see stories:
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS