The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will step up its protests against the upcoming cross-strait talks in Taichung, with various demonstrations planned for Dec. 21 to Dec. 23 in addition to a march and rally next Sunday, DPP officials said.
The DPP reached the decision on Friday, one day after the itinerary for the fourth round of talks between Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was made public.
The itinerary released by the Mainland Affairs Council showed that Chen will arrive in Taichung on Dec. 21 and meet with Chiang on Dec. 22 to sign four cross-strait agreements regarding fishing crew coordination, agricultural quarantine inspections, industrial product standards, inspection and certification, and the avoidance of double taxation. In anticipation of Chen’s visit, the DPP had earlier announced a march on Dec. 20 in Taichung City to protest the proposed signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The DPP decided on Friday that the protest campaign will be extended to cover the first three days of Chen’s stay in Taichung to highlight the “unreasonableness” of the Chiang-Chen talks, party officials said.
Among the many protest ideas raised by party members were flash mobs and having 50 model planes hovering over the venue, they said, adding that further discussions would be held to finalize the details of the planned protests.
Meanwhile, expressing concerns about the DPP’s planned action, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians in Taichung urged the DPP to ensure the protests are not violent so that the talks can proceed smoothly.
Chang Hung-nien (張宏年), speaker of the Taichung City Council, said the DPP should take the event in stride because it is intended to address economic issues and would not touch upon political subjects.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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