A parade featuring giant displays of Republic of China (ROC) flags and identification cards is to be staged on Super Saturday — Nov. 22 — to drum up support for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), his campaign office said yesterday.
Campaign spokesman Chien Chen-yu (錢震宇) said that the parade, scheduled a week before the nine-in-one elections, is to demonstrate Lien’s “respect for the ROC and support for Taiwan” — unlike his main rival, independent candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), whom Chien said has wavered between sympathizing with and denying the ROC.
Although Ko has tried to demonstrated that he identifies with the ROC, he had once torn up his ROC identification card and participated in an event hosted by the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign, Chien said, referring to an umbrella organization of pro-independence groups.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“He [Ko] has not made his stance clear in this regard,” he said.
Chien announced the parade at a press conference in which campaign staff displayed 8m by 5m ROC flags, saying the office hopes to gather more than 50,000 people to “stand for [Lien] to the end.”
Participants are to gather in front of Taipei City Hall plaza on Renai Road. Divided into six groups, they will begin marching toward Ketalagan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office at 2pm, Chien said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also serves as KMT chairman, and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is seeking re-election, are also scheduled to join the parade, Chien said.
In related news, former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝伯村) last night likened the Taipei mayoral election to “a battle between the ROC and Taiwanese independence.”
Since Taipei is the capital of the ROC, its mayor should be loyal to the ROC, a condition that Lien fulfills, Hau said at a campaign rally in the courtyard of Hsin An public housing (興安國宅).
He said supporters should not be deceived by someone passing himself off as an ROC loyalist, adding that a man advocating Taiwanese independence would only “wreak havoc.”
Sean Lien’s father, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), made similar comments while on the campaign trail on Saturday, when he described the electoral contest as a battle that is essential to determining the ROC’s future.
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