Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson candidates and several hundred KMT supporters yesterday marched in Taipei to vent their anger over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration’s performance in office over the past year.
Congregating in front of Liberty Square, hundreds of KMT supporters and employees sounded air horns as former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) denounced the DPP administration’s performance since assuming office on May 20 last year.
Launched on the eve of Mother’s Day, the KMT said the march was intended to sympathize with mothers who are concerned about food safety, highlighted by incidents such as the discovery of eggs containing dioxin and products made using expired margarine.
Photo: Huang Yao-kuo, Taipei Times
Demonstrators denounced every major policy formulated by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.
Hau targeted the Cabinet’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Project proposal, which has a budget of NT$880 billion (US$29 billion), calling it “reckless.”
“The DPP plans to push through 23 projects by bypassing viability and environmental impact assessments,” he said. “The project would only benefit developers and corporations and is meaningless to the ordinary citizen.”
Photo: Huang Yao-kuo, Taipei Times
Surrounded by supporters, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) led the march after bursting a green balloon symbolizing the DPP administration.
KMT members in campaign vehicles shouted through megaphones, vowing to “destroy” Tsai with their words.
The march stopped briefly near the Presidential Office Building, where demonstrators sounded air horns and demanded that Tsai step down.
The march later passed the Ministry of Education office, with protesters accusing the DPP of attempting to “decriminalize” narcotics, in reference to an incident involving a fourth-grader allegedly found using ketamine.
The protesters criticized the ministry’s curriculum guidelines review committee for developing guidelines that they said advocate Taiwanese independence.
The committee is reviewing social studies curriculum guidelines created for the 12-year National Education System, which are set to be implemented next year.
A skit bashing the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Project was performed in front of the legislature building, with protesters accusing Tsai, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) and DPP legislators of bribing local governments while transferring the cost to future generations.
The protesters also criticized proposed pension cuts, accusing the DPP of reneging on a contract it has with former civil servants and demanding that Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-yi (林萬億), who is the deputy convener of the Pension Reform Committee, resign.
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