Taiwanese promoting civil defense awareness and national unity in the face of China’s invasion threat set off from Tainan yesterday on the third day of a nine-day march from Kaohsiung to Taipei.
“Prepare for civil defense, protect Taiwan” activists shouted on the Tainan-Yunlin section of the march organized by the Kuma Civil Defense Education Association, a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Puma Shen (沈伯洋).
“I hope that during this northward journey, more people and civil society organizations show their support so everyone hears the voices representing Taiwanese, that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country,” said an attendee, surnamed Hou (侯), who attended the full day’s journey on Sunday.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
More than 50 groups of advocates would join in stages to complete the 380km “Stand Up as Taiwan” march across 13 cities and counties, the group’s Web site said.
Largely following Provincial Highway 1 along Taiwan’s western half, the route uses train stations as relay points from the south to the north of the country.
The group expects about 1,000 people to gather at the event’s final stop at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei on Sunday.
Established in 2021, the Kuma Civil Defense Education Association aims to “prepare a pre-war mentality for civilians” and “cultivate self-defense capabilities and will to defend Taiwan,” the group’s Web site said.
Beijing, which has conducted large-scale air and naval exercises around Taiwan in recent years in apparent preparation for potential military action, has threatened people associated with the group.
In October, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office put the Taiwanese NGO on an official public list of “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.”
The group’s cofounder, Shen, and one of the group’s financiers, businessman Robert Tsao (曹興誠), were also denounced by China as “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists” — a crime potentially punishable by death according to court guidelines published by China in June.
Shen and Tsao also founded the Kuma Academy.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS