Members of the pro-independence Taiwan Radical Wings party were evicted from a New Year’s Day ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building for waving flags promoting Taiwanese independence yesterday, while the party accused the authorities of failing to protect free speech.
Party members participating in the ceremony displayed a “flag of Taiwan” and an “independence flag,” causing a confrontation with police.
Police officers said that only the national flag was allowed at the ceremony, and evicted several party members and volunteers, while some attendees displaying flags advocating marriage equality were allowed to stay.
Photo: CNA
“Is it not the most typical form of infringement on the freedom of speech that the state treats different opinions differently?” the party said in a statement.
No party members were injured, although a telephone was broken during the eviction, party deputy publicity director Lin Chun-miao (林春妙) said.
The police did not respond to party members’ accusations that they were treated unfairly compared with equal marriage rights advocates who waved rainbow flags, Lin said.
Citing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) address after winning the presidential election that promised “no citizens have to apologize for their identification,” the party said the eviction of people publicly professing their political stance was counter to the president’s pledge.
The Executive Yuan last month announced Freedom of Expression Day to mark the death of democracy activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), but yesterday’s eviction was a bitter irony considering the government’s pledge to ensure the freedom of speech, the party said.
The government has tried to silence the independence movement by identifying the Republic of China (ROC) with Taiwan and vice versa, while the commemoration of Deng’s death with Freedom of Expression Day might do away with Deng’s legacy as a pro-Taiwanese-independence activist, it said.
“As long as Taiwanese independence narratives remain a taboo for the government, there is no true freedom of speech in Taiwan. As along as the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration does not face the alien characters of the ROC system, it remains an accomplice of the Chinese settler regime,” the party said.
Meanwhile, a Changhua County man held a flag-raising ceremony using China’s national flag during which which China’s national anthem was played.
Wei Ming-jen (魏明仁), a former military officer who is now in the construction business, acquired a Buddhist temple in the county’s Ershuei Township (二水) six years ago and converted it into a “socialism and nationalism outpost of the People’s Republic of China.”
Wei invited “comrades and unificationists” to join yesterday’s ceremony, with about 200 people in attendance, including reporters from China.
Wei said he is a Chinese citizen and is working toward Taiwan’s unification with China, adding that he burned his Taiwanese identification and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) membership cards.
Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) of the DPP said he has asked police to monitor Wei Ming-jen’s networking activities, although it was not worthwhile to trouble himself with a person who betrays his nation and repurposes a temple for political aims.
“If he has the courage, he should go and raise the ROC national flag in China,” the commissioner said.
The Mainland Affairs Council said it does not comment on the political views of individuals, adding that identification with the ROC is the most widely accepted political view among Taiwanese.
Additional reporting by Yen Hung-chun and CNA
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