Taiwanese students and expatriates in 49 cities across 21 countries organized rallies timed to coincide with Sunday’s demonstration in Taipei, as part of a global networking campaign to support the “Sunflower student movement.”
Calling it “24-Hour Relay Across the Globe in Support of Taiwan,” the worldwide rallies saw Taiwanese and other participants shouting the same slogans as their counterparts in Taipei: “Protecting Taiwan’s Democracy,” and “Withdraw the Trade Deal,” which gained press coverage and wide circulation among online social media.
Some students held up placards that read: “Taiwan is not for sale,” “Transparency, Democracy and National Security for Taiwan” in support of the movement which started with protesters occupying the legislature in Taipei on March 18.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The worldwide networking rally began in Australia and New Zealand on Sunday morning, with events in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and other locations.
The international relay proceeded through the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukuoka, South Korea’s Seoul and Busan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and other Asian countries.
Hong Kong organizers said the protesters received an enthusiastic response, with more than 1,000 people joining the rally.
Photo: CNA
After some speeches, they marched from Causeway Bay to the Charter Garden next to the Legislative Council building.
As the day progressed, Taiwanese in Europe joined the global effort, with notable rallies in Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Madrid and Stockholm.
The relay culminated in North America, with US events taking place in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities, as well as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
More than 100 Taiwanese students and Taiwanese-Americans gathered in front of Washington’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
Despite the freezing rain and subzero temperatures, they performed street theater skits, handed out sunflowers to passersby and delivered a petition to the office.
Washington organizer Chao Tse-hua (趙澤華) said he is a student at Pennsylvania State University.
“We drove four hours from Pennsylvania to DC. We just want those students in Taiwan fighting for democracy to know that people abroad support their cause,” Chao said.
In New York City’s Times Square, about 400 people joined a mass sing-along and conveyed their messages in slogans, while holding sunflowers.
In the UK, more than 300 students and overseas Taiwanese headed to Trafalgar Square in London. They presented musical entertainment to the audience and vocalized their support of the Sunflower movement.
The event in Berlin took place at Alexanderplatz, a public square and transport hub, and was organized by Taiwanese university students.
Calling themselves the “3.30 Berlin Action Group,” organizers said more than 300 people joined in their rally, with a series of public discussions and lectures on the cross-strait agreement, the pros and cons of free trade, Taiwan’s human rights situation and its democratic governance system.
The largest event in Japan was held at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, where more than 700 people joined a rally.
Taiwanese students and expatriates in Tokyo were joined by their Japanese friends to call for the withdrawal of the cross-strait pact, shouting slogans in support of the Sunflower movement.
Additional reporting by Tsao Yu-fen, Hu Hui-ning and Chang Mao-shen
RULES TIGHTENED: Passengers arriving from Sydney and Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19, while passengers arriving from Seattle all tested negative Seventeen of the 217 passengers who arrived on long-haul at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that the positivity rate was higher than expected. Yesterday was the first day that the government enforced stricter health guidelines for the testing of passengers arriving on long-haul flights. They must undergo a polymerase chain reaction test immediately after arriving at the nation’s international airports. Those who test positive are sent directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the virus to people working in and around the airports and at quarantine hotels. Victor Wang (王必勝),
‘NEW YEAR GIFT’: While the MAC called the song propaganda, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that it addressed the homesickness of ‘Taiwanese compatriots’ A pro-unification pop song aired on Chinese television earlier this month would only further sour Taiwanese sentiment toward China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday. The music video for We Sing the Same Song (我們同唱一首歌), which aired on China Central Television, features Chinese artists performing alongside Taiwanese singers Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Chen Li-nong (陳立農). The lyrics were reportedly written by Taiwanese lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), known for his collaborations with Jay Chou (周杰倫), to music composed by a Chinese musician. Sung in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the song is about three Taiwanese siblings who
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
‘CHAOS’: Victor Wang, the CECC’s on-site commander at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, said testing of arrivals has sped up in time to meet holiday demand For now, people are not banned from eating and drinking on trains, despite the rise in locally transmitted cases of COVID-19, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday. “On Sunday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that the nation would remain on a level 2 COVID-19 alert until at least Jan. 24. So we will follow the center’s disease prevention guidelines for passengers on public transport systems,” Wang said. However, bus and train depots have been asked to disinfect facilities more frequently, he said. The center’s new
RSS