Organizers of the annual “Autumn Struggle” yesterday said that protesters would walk from Pingtung County to the Presidential Office Building in Taipei to highlight their opposition to “ractopamine pork, double standards and one-party rule.”
Event convener Huang Te-pei (黃德北) said that organizers hope to garner support for a “yes” vote in two of the national referendums scheduled for Dec. 18.
One of the four referendum questions calls for a ban on pork imports containing traces of the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine, while another seeks to block a liquefied natural gas terminal from being built near algal reefs off Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“On the walk, we hope to talk with civil organizations and groups in the hope of gathering support to voice our displeasure on Dec. 18,” Huang told a news conference in Taipei.
Lin Tzu-wen (林子文), one of the leaders of the group, said that they would start the walk from Pingtung tomorrow and aim to reach Yunlin County in 12 days.
The planned route is to take them through 13 municipalities and counties before arriving on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Dec. 12, Lin said.
They are to hold talks in front of train stations, temples and other public places at 7:30am each morning as the walk progresses, he said.
People are welcome to listen to the talks or walk with the group to learn more about the issues that those on the march advocate, he said.
Environmentalist Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政), who initiated the referendum seeking to block the building of Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas terminal at its proposed site off Taoyuan, said he was touched that the organizers were willing to support reef protection.
Su Wei-shuo (蘇偉碩), a clinical psychologist who attended last year’s protests and who is to participate again this year, said that none of the demands regarding banning pork containing traces of ractopamine, and fighting double standards and one-party rule had been met.
In last year’s protest, more than 50,000 people backed by 42 labor groups walked from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building to the headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party on Beiping E Road in Taipei.
The Autumn Struggle is one of Taiwan’s oldest domestic labor demonstrations.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
RSS