The rally to be staged today in Taipei City is a pro-Taiwan event and not a show of support for former president Chen Shiu-bian (陳水扁), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
Director of the DPP’s Department of Culture and Information Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference yesterday that the rally, organized by a number of pro-localization groups, is aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty, protesting against the government’s poor performance on the economy and promoting “sunshine bills.”
The date of the protest was chosen to coincide with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 100th day in office.
GRAPHIC: TT
Cheng denied charges by some pan-blues that the rally is a show of support for Chen.
“Although it is a fact that Chen played an important part in the DPP’s history, the party should say goodbye to that period of its history and move toward a future without Chen,” Cheng quoted DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as saying.
Calling on the public to join the rally, Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) of the DPP, at a separate press conference yesterday, accused Ma of failing to improve the economic situation in Taipei and putting more than 2,000 shops out of business over the last two months.
Statistics showed that the commodity price index rose to 6.75 percent last month from 1.9 percent last year, Wu said.
In the 100 days since Ma’s administration assumed office on May 20, about 319 households in Taipei City have become low-income families and suffered from economic hardship, she said.
“Ma, a former Taipei mayor and his successor, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), have joined efforts to make the lives of Taipei residents more miserable. Shouldn’t they be sorry for letting Taipei residents down?” she said.
Commenting on the planned rally, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said pro-independence groups should instead conduct a self-review for supporting Chen in the past.
“The [KMT] administration has been unable to boost the economy within 100 days after it assumed office because of the problems left behind by the previous [DPP] administration,” said Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), KMT caucus secretary-general.
“If officials of the previous government and pro-independence groups only blame [the economic downturn] on the new administration, it will be very difficult for our next generation to have a promising future,” Chang said.
But Chang added that the KMT should also review its own actions for failing to live up to public expectations.
KMT Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) said it was “ironic” for the pan-green camp to be protesting against Ma while Chen was under investigation for alleged money laundering.
“They have been saying that they want to denounce Ma, but is there any specific evidence showing that President Ma deserves to be criticized?” she said.
The Presidential Office said yesterday it respected the people’s rights to rally and assemble.
“Taiwan is a democratic society,” Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chih (王郁琦) said. “We respect the people’s right to assemble and stage rallies, and will handle the rally as a normal event.”
Ma declined to make remarks about the rally later yesterday when asked by reporters for comment.
The rally is scheduled to begin at 2:30pm, with participants assembling at two points. One group will meet at Longshan Temple in the Wanhua District (萬華) and the other at the square in front of the Wellcome supermarket near the intersection between Dunhua S Road and Zhongxiao E Road.
The two groups will then stage a parade, meeting at Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Traffic control measures announced by the Taipei City’s Police Department yesterday said that Ketagalan Boulevard between Zhongshan S Road and Gongyuan Road will be closed from 10am to 10pm today. Flexible traffic control measures will be enforced along the rally route, the department said.
The department said it would deploy more than 2,000 police to maintain public order and control traffic this afternoon when the rally begins.
The traffic control will be expanded to Linsen S Road, Gongyuan Road, Aiguo E and W roads and Zhongxiao E and W roads if needed, the department reported.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS