Pro-Taiwan independence groups began a vigil in Taipei last night to show their support for President Chen Shui-bian's (
The vigil, which began at 6pm yesterday at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, will continue non-stop with no date set for its conclusion, according to the event's organizer, the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The alliance, composed of more than 70 pro-Taiwan groups, has as its mission the changing of the nation's name to Taiwan as so to allow Taiwan to assert its place in the international community.
Alliance spokesperson Peter Wang (王獻極) said that the purpose of the marathon vigil is to show support for Chen's Saturday remark that Taiwan and China are separate countries on either side of the Strait and his calls for the legislature to consider passing a referendum law.
Wang added that the vigil is also meant to protest China's interference in Taiwan's internal affairs.
"We encourage all whom share our views to come and join us at the vigil," Wang said at an alliance press conference yesterday, adding that events at the vigil would include speeches and skits.
Chen Lung-chu (
Hsu Deng-kun (許登崑), Chairman of the Goa-Seng-Lang Association for Taiwan Independence (外省人獨立促進會), also expressed his concerns at the press conference.
"Having Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan is not scary," Hsu said. "What is scarier and concerns me more is the lack of recognition many Taiwanese have toward Taiwan, the land they live on."
Meanwhile, in a bid to support the president's recent remarks, TSU legislative whip Chen Cheng-lung (
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
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