Anti-war activists yesterday protested outside the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) against US President Barack Obama’s threat of a military strike against Syria, accusing the plan of being based on lies.
Holding up banners urging the US to refrain from sending troops to Syria and accusing it of being imperialistic, demonstrators mobilized by the Labor Party and the Labor Rights Association protested yesterday morning, chanting antiwar slogans.
“We are here because today, the US Congress will vote to decide whether to approve Obama’s plan to attack Syria — in fact, the US is likely to attack Syria regardless of how Congress votes,” Labor Party secretary-general Tang Shu (唐曙) told the crowd.
“We are here, standing united with fellow anti-war activists in several other countries, including in Spain, France, Belgium, Japan and the US, to show our opposition to war,” Tang said.
Tang said a US invasion of Syria is not justified without authorization from the UN, especially when such a decision is likely to be made before UN investigators reach a conclusion on whether the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people.
“In 2003, when former US president George W. Bush launched an invasion of Iraq, he also seemed quite certain that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction,” Tang said.
“However, apparently no such weapons were found in Iraq, and the US was more interested in repairing oil pipelines in Iraq than any other postwar reconstruction efforts,” Tang said.
It was ironic that Obama, who holds a Nobel Prize for Peace, is preparing to attack another country, he said.
“This is an insult to the peace prize and to world peace,” he added.
Labor Party Hsinchu County Councilor Kao Wei-kai (高偉凱) accused the US of eyeing control of Syrian oil fields.
The US has no right to criticize the use of chemical weapons, because it was the biggest seller of such weapons, Kao said.
“Instead of invading yet another Middle Eastern country, the US should completely withdraw its troops from the Middle East,” Kao said.
A British citizen, identified only as Julian, also criticized the planned attack on Syria as “built on a lie.”
He said that it was the Syrian rebels who have used chemical weapons in the fighting, not the Syrian government.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS