Ignoring the summer heat of southern Taiwan, thousands of people yesterday took part in a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)- organized rally in Kaohsiung to demand the ouster of President Chen Shui-bian (
The KMT's rally yesterday was the second of the party's three protests around the nation which aim to gather public support for the recall motion before the legislature votes on it on Tuesday.
Denouncing Chen for failing to improve the country's economy and cross-strait relations over the past six years, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP
"The recall motion is not a political clash between the pan-blue and pan-green camp, and it is not an opposition scheme aimed at grabbing power. It's for the future of all the people," Ma said during the rally held at the National Science and Technology Museum.
Outside the rally, pan-green supporters shouting "Get lost, Ma Ying-jeou" burned KMT party flags. At one point, some even tried to occupy the satellite vans of media outlets they accused of being pro-China.
The protesters were stopped by the police.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma said the biggest issue for the president was that the people around him loved money, and had "abused their power after they got it."
"If my secretary and my wife became rich through graft, playing the stock market or gambling, would you still want me to be Taipei mayor?" asked Ma, who also serves as Taipei mayor.
Speaking in both Mandarin and Taiwanese, Ma asked the crowd "have our lives gotten better?"
"No," the crowd responded, waving flags and placards while cheering Ma's speech.
"Only by ousting President Chen will Taiwan have a future," Ma said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Tight security
To ensure the KMT chairman's safety amid alleged assassination threats aired on pirate radio stations in the south, Kaohsiung police assigned more than 2,000 officers to secure the site of the rally, with about 100 police following Ma around to protect him.
In Taipei yesterday, the People First Party (PFP) gathered more than 80 cars to protest against Chen around CKS Memorial Hall, expressing their anger by honking their horns.
PFP Chairman James Soong (
"President Chen should step down immediately because it's impossible that he can finish his term without further corruption ? If the DPP still has a conscience, it should join our plea and ask Chen to step down," Soong said.
Ma paid a brief visit to Soong before heading to Kaohsiung.
Expressing his determination to continue his sit-in, rather than attending the KMT rally, Soong urged the KMT chairman to play a more active role in fighting against a corrupt government.
"If Taiwan continues to sink into depravity, there will be no future for democracy, and the opposition can stop thinking about the 2008 presidential election," he said.
Taipei scuffles
In related developments, dozens of pro-independence activists demonstrating outside the KMT's headquarters in Taipei scuffled with the party's supporters before they were separated by police.
The demostrators accused the KMT of illegally amassing a fortune through cozy business links while in power and demanded that it return its stolen assets to the people.
Following another rally to be held today in Taipei, the KMT will invite more than 5,000 supporters to gather outside the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday to display their support for Chen's ouster.
DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS