President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) will participate in the parade held by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Saturday, DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday.
The march is to be staged to protest China's unflagging military threats to Taiwan and dumping of cheap goods.
To boost momentum for the march, Su, Yu, Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (
Although there were some dissenting voices on the parade among the DPP, Yu said yesterday that the party had communicated with those party members and that the majority of the DPP was now supportive of the parade.
DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also added that the DPP's legislative caucus and Taipei City councilors would mobilize their supporters to join the parade in a display of unity.
Local towel manufacturers will also organize a group to join the parade, Lin said.
Yu said the economy is the top priority for Taiwanese and that it was hard to understand how the economy could benefit from the pan-blue camp bringing up the presidential assassination attempt again.
"A responsible governing party can't be silent when our country is bullied. We cannot stay mute when Chinese leaders keep claiming Taiwan is the territory of the People's Republic of China," Yu said.
"We have to make the world know Taiwan's thoughts. Only with strong democracy can Taiwan have security and a prosperous economy," he said.
As for the attendance of VIPs, Yu said President Chen was "inclined to" participate in the parade, but whether he would march or just give a speech would be decided by the Presidential Office.
Mark Chen said the president would decide on his attendance today and that the vice president would go if Chen decides to do so.
"The chances of President Chen attending the parade are high. As for myself, I have already decided to go," Mark Chen said yesterday.
Su yesterday also announced that he would attend the rally.
When asked whether the US would pressurize Taiwan if the president showed up at the parade, Mark Chen said that "it has nothing to do with the US if the people of Taiwan decide to hold a parade."
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai