The chief organizer of the human-chain rally that is slated to take place on Feb. 28 announced yesterday that the event has so far received overwhelming support nationwide, with the number of scheduled participants exceeding 1 million.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Giving a report on the progress of the rally, Lee said the quick surge in the number of participants has cheered the morale of the organizers, but has also made transporting the throng of participants an acute problem.
Lee said there are about 9,000 buses available in the country, but even that number would be insufficient to carry all of the participants.
"We hope people can use all kinds of transport, including bicycles, motorcycles, cars or even walking to support the activity," Lee said.
Supporters of the rally, which is being jointly organized by the DPP, Taiwan Solidarity Union and hundreds of private groups advocating Taiwanese independence gathered yesterday in Taipei to appeal for lasting peace, freedom and democracy and to oppose China's aiming of missiles at Taiwan.
Annie Lee (
She said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the past five decades has educated people to believe many things that are irrelevant to the well-being of Taiwan, including asking people here to retake China, to build a prosperous China and to liberate the Chinese people living in dire conditions under the rule of the communist party.
"But these demands are irrelevant, vague and unreal to us. To many of us here, the idea of China -- this so-called motherland -- is very vague, and we don't know what it looks like. What is real to us is the land that we stand on and live in. That is what we care about," Lee said.
She said the event aims to invite people to redefine their national identity, to demand China respect Taiwanese people's will and to let the world understand that the people of Taiwan are not the pawns of the Chinese.
Urging more people to attend the rally and to write a new chapter in Taiwan's democracy, Lee reminded supporters to bring three gadgets with them on the day of the rally: cellphones, digital cameras and radios.
The rally will span 500km in length along the north-south provincial highways on the west coast, from Keelung County to Pingtung County. All participants are expected to hold hands at 2:28pm on Feb. 28.
Participants are encouraged to use cellphones to spread text messages about the event, while the digital cameras will be used to keep photographic records which will then be published online to be viewed worldwide. Information regarding the rally will also be broadcast on the radio.
National Policy Adiser Alice King (
"Eighty-five percent of Japanese agree that Taiwan's remaining a democratic and free country and not becoming a part of China are very important to Japan. Japanese are actually more concerned about whether Taiwan could insist on walking its own road and not be swallowed by China. Because if that happens, Chinese naval power can penetrate the Western Pacific, which would endanger Japan's security," King said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS