Taipei City Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"I have emptied my schedule for [today] to attend," said Ma, ending his long silence about the issue while responding to rumors that he is seeking to ease tensions between him and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Over 100,000 people are expected to participate in today's march, KMT officials said yesterday. The event, entitled the "Democracy, Peace and Truth" march, is organized by pan-blue special interest groups such as the Democratic Action Alliance and the 319 Action Committee. The aim of the march is to demonstrate the pan-blue camp's dissatisfaction with the investigation into the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (
The assassination attempt, which the pan-blue camp claims was staged by the pan-green camp to win the presidential election, sparked a violent, week-long protest by pan-blue supporters on Ketagalan Boulevard last year.
The march will start at the Sungshan tobacco factory (
While Ma and his fellow KMT vice chairman and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
While Soong has refrained in recent weeks from saying whether he would attend, the PFP chairman said it is doubtful he would do so.
Soong's recent silence might seem surprising, given he and his party's active involvement in the protests a year ago. But in light of the recent friendly relations between the PFP and the Chen administration, analysts say it would not be surprising if Soong shuns the event.
Despite his apparent reluctance to join in the march, Soong was said to have criticized Ma as having shown "cowardice when there is a need to protest" during last year's election turmoil and as "having no room for forgiveness."
Raising a flurry of media speculation as to whether Soong prefers Ma or Wang as the next KMT chairman, journalist and political commentator Fan Li-ta (
Speaking as a guest on the TVBS talk show News Night Club, Fan said that Soong had said, "Ma has no eyes and no brain. How can he win [the KMT chairmanship election]?"
Fan's comments about a phone call between him and the PFP chairman were confirmed by party spokesman Hsieh Kung-pin (
During a meeting with reporters yesterday, Ma said that he had tried to contact Soong three times this week since hearing of the comments to initiate a meeting with Soong. However, he was told by PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-shen (
As part of the "anniversary" protest against the handling of the shooting investigation, the 319 Action Committee was set to hold candle-lit vigil at midnight last night. Over 50 members of the group, along with Yok and Wang were expected to attend.
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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
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