President Chen Shui-bian (
"I am not afraid of the recount, and it is my commitment to completely accept the results of the recount whether or not they are in my favor. I hope that [Chinese Nationalist Party] KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"I will sign a letter of consensus to allow for an immediate recount. Lien and Soong will not have to wait for the case to be tried in court, nor will they have to provide evidence of election fraud," said Chen, explaining that it would be almost impossible for a recount to be mandated by a court based on evidence of legal violations.
PHOTOS: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen made the remark late last night in response to the requests set forth by the pan-blue camp's rally yesterday.
Chen also retracted a previous request that Lien and Soong disperse the rally on Ketagalan Boulevard before meeting with him. Chen said that he hoped to meet with the two pan-blue leaders on Monday unconditionally since Lien and Soong had both said the crowds had been out of their control .
Chen went on the stress however that this did not mean that the protesters could continue to camp out on Ketagalan Boulevard forever, citing the needs of schools and hospitals in the area.
"I will order law enforcers to clear up the Ketagalan Boulevard on Monday," where an estimated 4000 pan-blue supporters still refused to leave, Chen said.
"I hope Mayor Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] can keep his word and fulfill his promise [to dismiss the crowd after 6pm yesterday]," added Chen.
Earlier in the day, thousands of tour buses flooded in from parts of Taiwan to Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei yesterday afternoon in support of Lien's call for a ballot recount.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) expressed disappointment that Lien and his running mate, People First Party (PFP) James Soong (宋楚瑜), didn't tell the crowd that the president has agreed days ago to a recount and an independent investigation into the attempted assassaination of Chen in Tainan.
Hsiao also noted that Lien and Soong didn't say whether they'd accept the results of a recount.
"This is really regrettable," she said.
At the rally, which was entitled "sustain justice, salvage democracy and we want the truth," Lien told the crowd that his appeals were not self-serving, but were part of his heartfelt concern over the entire country's democratization.
"What we are striving for here is not about an individual's position or a party's success or failure," Lien said. "We are here because we are concerned whether the country's ruling government has acquired its power through trickery, and thus its authority is ineffective, not real and deserves no respect."
Lien, who joined forces with Soong on a single ticket repre-senting the KMT-PFP alliance, lost the presidential race to Chen by less than 30,000 votes, or a margin of only0.2 percent.
Citing voting irregularities and questioning the official version of Chen's assassination attempt, Lien called the election unfair and refused to concede defeat.
"While the formal election might have ended, it leaves a big question mark in terms of the country's democratic history and development," Lien said, while standing before a backdrop that read "Democracy is dead."
Urging Chen to squarely face people who demand to know the truth about the assassination attempt, Lien said the KMT-PFP alliance will not cease its demonstration until their appeals have been addressed.
In rhetoric meant to underscore his support for Lien, Soong said he would give up his candidacy as the alliance's vice presidential candidacy should a re-election be necessary once the whole ordeal comes to an end.
A 5-meter-tall "crying Statue of Liberty" was erected at the venue to kick off the rally at 2pm yesterday before KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Between speeches bashing Chen, delivered by prominent pan-blue figures including New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (
Many protesters wore national flag stickers on their faces and on their outfits, while others held up placards with slogans written in Chinese and English, reading "Fraud" and "Immediate recount."
Under the lead of the rally host, mass protesters waving Republic of China flags and Lien-Soong campaign flags at the rally from time to time called out slogans in English, such as "Justice, now!" and "Truth, now!"
According to the Taipei City Government's information, as of 5pm yesterday the rally had drawn a crowd of approximately 468,000 people.
In view of the events on Friday, in which scores of demonstrators scuffled with police and hurled bricks at the office of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to protest the official announcement of Chen as the winner of the election, police forces were a heavy presence around the Presidential Office, in addition to barbed wire barricades and numerous police vans for added security.
To everyone's relief, the rally, with the exception of an attempt by a handful of demonstrators to remove the barbed wire barricades when the crowd was asked to leave at 6pm, ended peacefully.
But police were tense, as a number of pan-blue legislators, mostly from the PFP, had warned prior to yesterday's event that they would carry out "dramatic action" at the rally. PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) even said he was planning to drive a bulldozer to the rally.
Also see story:
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,