As opposition backers converged for marches yesterday morning, thousands of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters hoisted brooms high in the sky in a symbolic gesture to wipe out "black-gold" politics.
Branding the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) half-century long rule over the country as a "black-gold" regime, the DPP showed large photos of Taiwan's 10 most-wanted fugitives outside its local campaign headquarters across the nation.
To challenge the KMT-People First Party (PFP) alliance's marches around the country, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) campaign teams launched the "Grand Green Sweeping" activity to kick a series of events over the weekend.
PHOTO: LOH PEI-DEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Ridiculing the blue camp's decision not to call its marches an "anti-black-gold" campaign, Chen said: "The KMT didn't dare to make `anti-black gold' the theme of the marches. It knows doing so would hurt itself because it has been practicing black-gold politics."
"The blue camp opposes A-bian (
For the "Grand Green Sweeping," every DPP local campaign headquarters recruited 100 people, each holding a broom and standing in front of the photos of the fugitives.
At 10am sharp, the groups lifted up their brooms and started sweeping the fugitives' photos.
The fugitives included former chairman of Tuntex, Chen Yu-hao (
At the DPP national campaign headquarters in Taipei, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"The DPP believes in Taiwan and the people. It will insist on reform. I believe President Chen and Vice President Lu will continue efforts to wipe out black gold after they are re-elected," Su said.
DPP campaign spokesman Wu Nai-jen (
"In terms of the two events' historical significance, the 228 event is undoubtedly more meaningful than the blue-camp's rally yesterday. The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally will be the one that leaves its mark in history," Wu said.
Meanwhile, to show their determination to curb bribery in the election, a group of Ilan investigators launched an anti-bribery parade, which attracted thousands of participants.
A small crowd of President Chen backers was seen in the parade. They painted their faces black to imitate Bao Qingtian, a legendary 11th-century judge with a dark face.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard