Thousands of people yesterday attended the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) protest in front of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, calling for legislative, judicial, media and constitutional reforms.
Many protesters held a guava in one hand to show their discontent with the government. Guava — bale (芭樂) in Mandarin — also means a bad check in Taiwan.
At the rally named “519 Grassroots Determination Movement,” some of the protesters chanted: “Defeat the new party-state, launch a new Taiwan.”
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
On the black backdrop of the stage it said: “People make the calls.”
The black fans some protesters held and headbands they wore also carried the slogan.
“A lot of young people voted for [President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)] in 2016... But after eight years, when we look at what has actually been done, we feel like there has not been much change,” said Samuel Chuang, 35. “The DPP betrayed us. It is not us who betrayed them.”
As president-elect William Lai (賴清德) is about to take office and his party is entering its ninth year as the ruling party, the DPP has become arrogant, the TPP said.
The DPP has already broken its four reforms promise and Lai should not shirk his responsibility, the TPP said.
Shortly before TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) took the stage, Ko’s former spokeswoman, Vicky Chen (陳智菡), told the crowd that there were about 8,000 participants on site.
However, the police station responsible the site’s security estimated there were fewer than 5,000 people.
When Tsai won the 2016 presidential election, in her victory speech, she told DPP members to be “humble and more humble,” Ko said.
However, what people saw in the past eight years as “arrogant and more arrogant,” he said.
The DPP enjoyed a legislative majority in the past eight years and could pass any bill, yet it failed to make laws to realize its pledges for legislative, judicial, media and constitutional reforms, Ko said.
The DPP-led government established an anti-fraud office, but fraud cases increased two-fold in three years, Ko added.
“Why is fraud so hard to control? It is because the DPP government is the biggest scam syndicate,” Ko said.
People should not be blinded by ideology, he added.
If the party-state reappears in Taiwan, then a revolution would be an obligation, he said, adding that he hoped the nation would not go down that road.
“We are here to remind the DPP to remember its words and restore its humbleness,” Ko said.
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS