Taiwanese independence advocates yesterday rallied to support the unveiling of the new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) compound, while proponents of unification with China protested.
Taipei police and back-up units separated the groups on the road outside the compound in the city’s Neihu District (內湖) and secured the area for Taiwanese and US political figures attending the ceremony.
Pro-independence rally organizers estimated that 600 people participated, including people bused in from central and southern Taiwan.
They carried banners and shouted slogans calling for independence and enhanced military cooperation with the US to counter China’s belligerent threats.
“We are not protesting; we are here to celebrate the unveiling. The US will continue to help protect Taiwanese from China under the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act,” Taiwan Government Party chairman Peter Ku (古文發) said.
The compound sends a strong message to the world that Taiwan and the US are forging stronger bilateral links and that Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from military invasion by China, Taiwan Independence Party chairman and retired army colonel Tseng Miao-hung (曾淼泓) said.
“Our members support upgrading the AIT into the official US embassy and setting up more installations here to make Taiwan one of the US’ main political and military operational centers in the western Pacific,” Tseng added.
Taiwan Autonomy Alliance head Brian Qo (吳崑松) said his organization had prepared a congratulatory card with a letter expressing its gratitude and support, but police barricades prevented him from presenting it to AIT officials.
However, Lee Tung-hsing (李東興) of the Taiwan Independence Banner Squadron had a different message for the AIT.
“My organization is here to tell the US government to remove the Republic of China (ROC) political structure. It was the US military that assisted Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his ROC regime in its illegal occupation of Taiwan in the late 1940s. Taiwanese have had enough of this nonsense. Please return this Chinese ROC monstrosity back to China, as it is the US’ responsibility,” Lee said.
On the other side of the road, Chang An-le (張安樂) led his Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP) and other pro-China groups in a protest against the compound unveiling, at which they displayed the “five star” national flag of China.
Chang and his supporters had a minor scuffle with police when they tried to present a “gift” to the AIT: a wooden plaque with the Chinese idiom xuan ya le ma (懸崖勒馬, “rein in the horse at the brink of a precipice”).
“We demand that the US government withdraw its military from Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands ... because the US has acted like a bully and occupied these territories in dishonorable ways. Their bases in the region are blocking China’s access to the Pacific through the East China Sea,” the CUPP said in a statement.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese