Demonstrators gather at CKS Memorial Hall

As the first DPP president, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), stepped into his new post yesterday, two political fringe groups representing pro-unification and pro-independence supporters -- each attracting nearly 200 people -- held protest marches in the streets of Taipei to voice their discontent with Chen.

Pro-unification supporters, in a demonstration they dubbed "I am both Taiwanese and Chinese," called on Chen to clarify his ethnic stance

"Chen has to identify himself as Chinese, otherwise he is not the president of the Republic of China [on Taiwan]," one demonstrator said.

Members of the group, which identified themselves as being "grassroots" KMT, also targeted Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the former party chairperson and now the former president, saying he helped Chen win the presidency.

Marching though the streets of the capital from Ta-an Park to nearby the Presidential Office, they clutched placards indicating their Chinese nationalist sentiment. They insisted that all the people in Taiwan -- regardless of where they are originally from in China -- are "Chinese."

At the other protest -- which ran from the Chang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to Kategalan Avenue -- pro-independence activists said they wanted to remind people of their goal of "rebuilding the Taiwanese nation."

"Chen should not be president unless Taiwan is an independent state," protesters said.

Refusing to speak in Mandarin, the leader of this group, Fu Yun-chin (傅雲欽), said Chen's inauguration speech showed that "he has compromised with the pro-unification camp. Even his Mandarin is more standard than before."

With several taxis decorated with "nation-building" flags joining the demonstration, members of the group proclaimed that they were the "real supporters" of Taiwan independence.

Although the two groups demonstrated at different times and with extremely different appeals yesterday, they appeared to resemble each other in their expression of nationalism -- albeit of opposite natures.

One observer summed up the mood:

"With Taiwan in a constant face-off with China, most people paid attention to the "five no's" of Chen's inauguration speech -- which turns these two marginal demonstrations into nothing," he said.

The two extreme ideologies clashed only once yesterday afternoon. As the pro-independence supporters rallied in front of the Chang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a pro-China supporter waving China's national flag caused a fight between the two sides.

Police eventually extracted the man from the melee.

Inauguration day, however, has been marked by demonstrations -- whether it be by farmer's movements, by those against military involvement in politics, or reaction against "white terror" -- since a ban on them was eased in 1988.