The 908 Taiwan Nation Movement, a local pro-independence group, announced yesterday that it will mobilize 3 million people to form a human chain around Taiwan on Feb. 28, 2008 to push for passage of a new "Taiwan Nation Constitution."
Wang Hsien-chi (王獻極), convener of the movement, told a news conference that last year's "1 million people human chain" activity helped President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) win re-election, but that it failed to realize the goal of enacting a new constitution for Taiwan and changing the nation's official title from the "Republic of China" to "Taiwan."
"We now plan to hold an even larger-scale activity to drum up support for our goal of writing a new constitution for Taiwan by mobilizing 3 million people to join hands to form a circle around Taiwan on Feb. 28, 2008 ahead of the next presidential election," Wang said, adding that the human chain activity will show the world the Taiwanese people's resolve to formulate a new constitution and establish a new "Taiwan Nation."
Following the end of the human chain activity, Wang said, his group will throw support behind the presidential candidate who explicitly backs its cause and promises to implement the new constitution if elected. The next presidential election is scheduled to be held in March 2008.
Wang said since two pro-unification Taiwan opposition heavyweights -- former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- made high-profile visits to China earlier this year, more Taiwanese people have leaned toward China.
Worse still, Wang said, the pro-China trend has become even more evident after charismatic Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) succeeded Lien as KMT chairman. Ma is widely seen as a shoo-in to win the 2008 presidential election.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
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