Thousands of protesters from opposition parties and civil organizations yesterday marched on Taipei City to oppose the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's proposed NT$610 billion (US$18 billion) arms procurement plan with the US, saying the policy will lead to an arms race with China and lead to war.
"The slogan of opposing the arms purchase deal absolutely represents the majority of Taiwanese people, especially since the government is mired in financial problems," said Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), a former DPP chairman and now an outspoken anti-DPP activist.
"The smartest course of action would be to avoid a war because Taiwan would lose," he said. "The DPP government's policy is pushing the nation to the edge of war."
The protest, entitled "Love Taiwan, oppose the arms-deal" began at 2pm at the Sun Yat-shen Memorial Hall. Participants marched toward Ketagelan Boulevard and held a "Love and Peace, Pray for Taiwan" rally in front of the Presidential Office.
Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance convener Chang Ya-chung (
The government expects to win the approval of the Legislative Yuan for the arms purchase before the end of the current session in January.
A number of protesters carried anti-US slogans, while one person was dressed as a monster-like Uncle Sam, cavorting with another protester wearing a mask of President Chen Shui-bian (
The the Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance, along with the Democratic Advancement Alliance (DAA) claimed the protest was not tied to a specific political party.
Many People First Party (PFP) and New Party (NP) candidates for the year-end legislative elections attended the protest.
Independent Legislator Sisy Chen (
Members representing labors rights groups, education reform and gender equality organizations attended the protest.
"The country has so many important issues that need to be solved immediately, such as the high unemployment rate, education and women's rights. We can't let the government send money to the US and leave a huge debt for the next generation," said Tang Shu (唐曙), leader of the Labor Rights Association.
According to the Cabinet, the arms deal package includes eight diesel-powered submarines, Patriot III anti-missile systems and 12 P3-C anti-submarine aircraft over a 15-year period beginning in 2005.
"One P3-C aircraft costs NT$5.9 billion, and we only need NT$1 billion to ensure that every primary student can eat a free breakfast at school," Tang said.
"The money to be used for the P3-missile could be used to feed primary students a free lunch for next 10 years," Tang added.
Meanwhile, at the KMT National Party Congress today, Chairman Lien Chan (
"While the KMT supports strong national defenses, the massive arms budget is not the key to a stable future," Lien said.
"The KMT does support a certain level of military expenditure, however, we think that the government should cut most of the arms procurement budget to allocate money to education and social welfare," he added.
"Besides taking on national loans and selling national land, what other ways are there [to pay for the arms budget]?" Lien said, without elaborating.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CAROLINE HONG
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS