Calling on people to join the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rally to “besiege” Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) when he meets President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) today, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday she would take full responsibility for the rally.
Tsai said the DPP would do all it can to hold a peaceful demonstration, but that it cannot guarantee that protesters would not be radicalized if police denied them their right to free expression.
The DPP-organized “Yellow Ribbon Siege” will start at 1pm, with protesters walking to the Taipei Guest House on Ketagalan Boulevard and besiege the Boai District (博愛), chanting slogans and using horns, bells, whistles and other objects to generate noise, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Cheng said that the party expects 100,000 to take part in the rally.
“We will let Ma and Chen hear the voice of the people,” he said.
After initially denying the DPP permission to hold the rally, the Taipei City Police Department yesterday afternoon announced it had given the DPP permission.
Saying that the DPP is not opposed to cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges or dialogue to help maintain stability and peace, Tsai said the party is simply worried that Taiwan is paying too high a price.
“Balance has been lost on this visit [by Chen]. Taiwan is paying too high a political price in terms of sovereignty, democracy, freedom of speech and all other forms of expression commonly enjoyed in a free and democratic society,” Tsai said.
“I am depressed because we are going through a dark period in Taiwan’s history,” she said. “People’s rights, personal liberties, freedom of speech and judicial rights were seriously violated in the past couple of days. Facing an authoritarian government, the party had no choice but to take to the streets, just as it fought for Taiwan’s democracy before.”
At a separate setting yesterday, National Police Agency director-general Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) denied allegations that government officials had ordered the confiscation of Republic of China flags, and rebutted rumors that local police departments in central and southern Taiwan were to stop any bus heading to Taipei carrying demonstrators on their way to the rally.
“Our goal has always been to protect all legal activities, block illegal ones and sanction violent acts,” Wang said, acknowledging that there are had been problems in how police had handled demonstrators.
He said, however, that police had acted within the law.
Wang said all police officers on duty would follow three main guidelines: act according to the law, remain neutral and strictly reinforce the law.
“So far, all police action has respected the legal framework,” he said. “Although I have to say that some officers do need to improve their skills and attitude.”
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said yesterday he would also lead TSU supporters at the rally.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus urged the DPP to call off its plan to “besiege” the Taipei Guest House during Ma’s meeting with Chen.
Calling the plan “illegal,” KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) yesterday urged Tsai to “stop throwing Taiwan into chaos.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to