With Taiwan struggling to forge a national identity, two parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum made patriotic appeals yesterday in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Shouting pro-Taiwan slogans, some 10,000 demonstrators marched through Kaohsiung as part of the campaign to change the nation's name to Taiwan, while another couple of thousand of protesters took to the streets of downtown Taipei to defend the country's official designation, Republic of China.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The three-hour rally in Kaohsiung came on the heels of comments by Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Shih-meng's (陳師孟) remark that the ROC flag does not equal the ROC.
The Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan, which is comprised of more than 70 pro-Taiwan groups, organized the event
Vice President Annette Lu (
"Unable to rectify the official name is causing Taiwan great pain. I hope that every Taiwanese can come together and fight for Taiwan," Lu said in a speech at the rally.
"The campaign for rectifying Taiwan's official name should be promoted step by step and should avoid sparking any disputes among different ethnic groups," Lu told an estimated 10,000 pro-independence supporters.
The Kaohsiung-based Taiwan South Society, one of the organizers of the protest, said the event was not designed to seek changes to the Constitution or the national flag.
Rather, the group seeks to have Taiwanese history instead of Chinese history taught in the nation's schools, to replace Chinese literature with Taiwanese literature and to remove "China" from the names of government-owned enterprises.
Cheng Cheng-yu (鄭正煜), secretary-general of Taiwan South Society, explained that while amending the Constitution is difficult at this time, the group will push for "Taiwanizing" the education system.
Meanwhile, TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (
The referendum proposal states that Taiwanese are entitled to hold referendums on the nation's name, flag and anthem.
Meanwhile, some 2,000 protesters demonstrated in Taipei at an event organized by the New Party. Demonstrators carried the ROC flag and urged Chen Shih-meng to resign for his earlier comments.
"Of course the flag equals to the ROC. Chen Shih-meng should resign from his post for his erroneous remark," said New Party Chairman Yuk Mu-ming (
As the mayoral and city council elections are approaching, the New Party yesterday also urged the blue camp to cooperate.
"With the blue camp working together, Ma Ying-jeou (
The New Party, facing the possibility of being shut out at the polls, has a tradition of promoting "national identity" at election time.
It won only one legislative seat, in Kinmen, and picked up only 0.44 percent of the vote in last year's legislative elections. All seven lawmakers from the party, including Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大), Levi Ying (營志宏) and Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), failed in their re-election bids.
Facing its first election since the defeat, the party has nominated six candidates for the Taipei City councilor elections and just one in Kaohsiung City.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS