Pro-independence groups said yesterday that they plan to stage a series of events at home and abroad to drum up support for their crusade to make Taiwan the country's official name.
Wang Kan-hou (王康厚), deputy secretary-general of World United Formosans for Independence, urged sympathizers at a news conference yesterday to join a massive march next May that would end in a demonstration in front of the Presidential Office.
Wang and his allies hope to mobilize 100,000 people to participate in the event on the third anniversary of the transfer of power in a show of their resolve to push for the adoption of Taiwan as the country's title.
Wang said he believed that the nation's current designation, the Republic of China, is too easily confused with the People's Republic of China.
"Our immediate goal is to help the country enter the United Nations," Wang said. "To that end, we will organize a marathon in New York that will end in front of UN headquarters on Oct. 6."
The government has renewed its bid to rejoin the world body that in 1971 switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
This year it has adopted an unusually low profile in an apparent attempt to avoid further angering Washington in the wake of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Name-ratification Movement will hold a mountain-climbing activity from Sept 20 to Sept 22 when independence supporters are slated to climb Yushan, the nation's highest mountain, Wang said.
He said the alliance will organize a parade in Kaohsiung on Nov 30 and a rally in Taichung in February or March -- intended as a warm up for a massive march on May 21.
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