The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally, that received overwhelming support nationwide on Saturday, could secure President Chen Shui-bian's (
Support for the rally, in which up to 2 million people held hands across the length of the country to protest China's missile threat, has not only created a new milestone for Taiwan's democratic development but has also boosted Chen's electoral prospects.
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang said that since the two presidential debates were held, Chen's support rate has already began to show signs of exceeding that of his rival, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The party said it predicted that the event would boost the party's support, with internal opinion polls showing increasing public approval as Feb. 28 approached.
Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), director of the public affairs department of the DPP's campaign headquarters, said: "The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally is indeed an important clincher in Chen's re-election bid. Before the rally, Chen's support rate was slightly behind the blue camp's Lien-Soong ticket. However, after the rally, we will see a jump in Chen's support."
Cheng said the event also sent an important message that "Taiwan is not China."
"The tremendous people power we saw demonstrates the people's consciousness in coming together when facing China's military threat," Cheng said.
To keep this momentum, the DPP campaign headquarters has planned 45 medium and large campaign activities from now till the election. It said that from today, there would be at least two campaign rallies each day, rising to four a day during the last 10 days of the campaign.
Cheng said the DPP hoped to remind people of the passion of the 228 rally and transform such feelings into support for Chen.
Wu Shu-ming (
The event not only demonstrated the will of Taiwanese people to China and to the international com-munity, it also strengthened the confidence of Taiwanese people to be proud of having a unique national identity separate from China, Wu said.
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