Step out and join the fun* on December 20

Despite the protests last November to let him know he is not welcome here, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) is coming back to Taiwan to push forward a party-to-party (Chinese Communist Party [CCP]-to-Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]) Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) which -- in spite of the fact that at least 69% of Taiwanese do not want "unification" with China -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) has called one of the steps which "will certainly bring about complete unification of the motherland [sic]." (See the video below.)


0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles"
Naturally, the DPP has organized several events ahead of and during Chen Yunlin's arrival. The first of these will be a march and rally in the central Taiwan city of Taichung (台中市) on Sunday, December 20, 2009.

Here's the English-language info from the Taipei Times:

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demonstration against the government's China-leaning economic policies [Maddog note: ... and Chinese plans to annex Taiwan!] will be held on Sunday in Taichung starting at 2:30pm, the party announced yesterday, urging the public to join the protest.

[...]

Protesters will gather at 2:30pm at two locations — the intersection of Mincyuan Road (民權路) and Taichunggang Road (台中港路) and the corner of Chaoma Road (朝馬路) and Anhe Road (安和路).

The processions are expected to meet up at 5pm on Hueiwun Road (惠文路), where a rally will be held in an empty parking lot, the spokesman said.

"Everyone should come and join the protests to send a loud and clear message to President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] and Chen that all cross-strait issues must be conducted in an open and transparent manner. Taiwan's sovereignty must not be undermined," Chuang said, asking that protesters exercise restraint and avoid violence.

DPP Lawmaker Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said that if the government continues to ignore public opinion, protesters could head to the Presidential Office in Taipei next.

Chuang said the DPP would also arrange smaller activities throughout the duration of the meeting from Dec. 21 to Dec. 25. Details will be finalized today by the Central Standing Committee, he said.

Other groups such as Falun Gong practitioners and human right advocates have said they will join the protests.

Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), more than half of the population believes signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing will hurt Taiwan's economy and livelihood.

Here's a Google Map I made of the routes and rally location:


View December 20, 2009 protest against Chen Yunlin in a larger map
Here's the Chinese-language info from the Liberty Times (自由時報) [English translations mine]:

第四次江陳會將在台中市舉行，民進黨昨表明，二十日舉辦的「破黑箱．顧飯碗」大遊行，將號召至少十萬人上街，由黨主席蔡英文領軍，邀呂蘇游謝、台聯黨主席黃昆輝等人一起參與，二十一日至二十五日也規劃系列小型活動表達抗議。

Ahead of the fourth Chiang-Chen meeting to be held in Taichung, yesterday [Monday, Dec. 14] the DPP announced a "Breaking the Black Box, Protecting the Rice Bowl" march led by party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen to take place on the 20th and called for at least 100,000 people to take to the streets. Those invited to attend include [former Vice-President Annette] Lu, Su [Tseng-chang], Yu [Shyi-kun], [Frank] Hsieh, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) chairman Huang Kun-huei, and others. A series of smaller protests is scheduled from the 21st to the 25th.

If it's at all possible, you should be there, too! In my opinion, 100,000 is far too small a number for a protest such as this.

* While it's quite a serious matter, DPP protests and rallies are usually happy affairs.

---

The latest dance moves: Taiwan, 台灣, 曹長青, protest, 抗議, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, 經濟合作架構協議, ECFA

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, ECFA, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, protest, Taiwan, 台灣, 抗議, 曹長青, 經濟合作架構協議, 陳雲林

... in just five months!

UPDATE 2a: The title and subheadline of this post [originally: "Support for Taiwan's immediate independence nearly triples ...in just six months!" -- based on a comparison with the MAC survey quoted below] has been changed to reflect a better comparison with a survey done by the same pollster the month after the MAC poll. Details from that poll and a link to the original are included below in "Update 2b." [/update 2a]

An article from Now News shows that a poll released today by the deep-blue Global Views Magazine (遠見雜誌) has some very interesting numbers related to the desire for Taiwan's formal independence:

民調顯示，19.0%民眾贊成台灣應該儘快獨立、10.3%認應先維持現狀再獨立（急獨與緩獨合計29.3%），40.7%先維持現狀再看情形、 11.0%永遠維持現狀（維持現狀合計為51.7%），4.3%先維持現狀再和大陸統一、4.0%台灣應該儘快和大陸統一（緩統與急統合計為8.3%），與馬總統執政以後，民眾贊成統一的比率並無變動。

[Tim Maddog translation:]
The survey says that 19.0% support independence as soon as possible. 10.3% want to preserve the status quo for now but declare independence later. (Supporters of immediate independence and delayed independence amount to 29.3%.) 40.7% want to preserve the status quo and decide later, while 11% want to preserve the status quo indefinitely (totaling 51.7% in favor of preserving the status quo [sic]). 4.3% want to preserve the status quo but unify with the mainland [sic] later. 4.0% of Taiwanese want to unify with the mainland [sic] as soon as possible. (Those in favor of unification add up to 8.3%.) After President Ma took office, there has been no change in support for unification.

UPDATE 1: Here's a direct link to the latest Global Views survey [464 KB PDF file]. [/update 1]

UPDATE 3: Here's the English version of the Global Views survey [152 KB PDF file]. [/update 3]

Just six month's ago, Taiwan's so-called Mainland Affairs Council (大陸委員會) did a survey which said that "6.7%" supported independence as soon as possible [12 KB PDF file].


A Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) survey from April 17 to 20, 2009
in which only 8.8% state a desire for Taiwan's unification with China.
UPDATE 2b: A May 13 - 15, 2009 survey from Global Views [744 KB PDF file] says:

[...] 15.0%贊成儘速獨立 [...]

[Tim Maddog translation:]
[...] 15% support immediate independence [...]

The current figure of 19% support for immediate independence would therefore amount to an increase of 26.66% (a four percentage point increase from the earlier 15%). The total support for unification in the May 2009 poll amounted to 8.3% -- precisely the same as the most recent poll. [/update 2b]

China's Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) -- chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait -- is coming to Taiwan for talks (and possibly to sign agreements) with Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) this December. Will you be out there protesting?

You are not in the minority. You'd better let the world hear your voices!

---

Nodes: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, survey, 民調, Chiang Pin-kung, 江丙坤, P.K. Chiang, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, Chiang Pin-kung, China, P.K. Chiang, survey, Taiwan, Taiwan Independence, 中國, 台灣, 台灣獨立, 民調, 江丙坤, 陳雲林

Dueling headlines

Note the headline of a front-page article in today's Taipei Times:

DPP chief slams cross-strait talks as failure

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that Sunday's round of cross-strait talks were a failure that made concessions on sovereignty but did not help Taiwanese businesses.

Tsai said the failure of the talks was inevitable given President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) "mindset."

She said the Ma government made four mistakes: It made concessions on sovereignty before the talks; it relied too much on China's goodwill and the Chinese economy; it avoided consultation with or supervision from the legislature and opposition parties; and it had no way of ensuring that national security officials and the government's negotiators had no conflict of interest.

Tsai said Ma had made a comment supporting Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) speech marking the 30th anniversary of Beijing's "open letter to Taiwanese compatriots," which highlighted the "one China" principle, and which was a concession on sovereignty.

The government also gave up negotiations on the "fifth freedom of the air," essentially implying that cross-strait flights are domestic flights, she said.

Compare that with the front-page headline of yesterday's China Post


I don't think that "success" means the same thing
to the China Post that it does to others
(Click to enlarge)

SUCCESS IN NANJING

[...]

P.K. Chiang, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), signed the agreements on financial cooperation, regular flights across the Taiwan Strait, and joint efforts to fight crime with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin at the former capital of the Republic of China in the afternoon. Chen, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), spoke before the signing, pledging more foreign direct investment in Taiwan and welcoming Taiwan entrepreneurs to invest in China.

SEF and ARATS are quasi-governmental organizations charged with the conduct of relations between the two sides of the strait.

They met for the third time since President Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated in May of last year, easing the tensions across the strait, while his predecessor Chen Shui-bian carried on his policy of creeping independence for Taiwan.

The China Post, you may notice, does one decent thing by putting P.K. Chiang and Chen Yunlin on equal footing. On the other hand, however, they both ignore the real problems pointed out by Tsai Ing-wen, and they conjure up imaginary ones such as "creeping independence."

Home field advantage
Considering that this took place in the old ROC capital -- on China's turf -- where official Chinese media referred to Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) as "President" of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) while Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤, AKA P.K. Chiang) was called the "Chairman" of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) (hardly on "equal footing"), I'd agree with both headlines. It's "success" for those on China's side but yet another failure for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in their dealings with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Debase? How low can you go?
For the DPP, it's obvious that they wouldn't budge on whatever the status quo was at the time and that they'd never give an inch when it came to Taiwan's sovereignty. However, what I see for the KMT's own "bottom line" is that they have no bottom line.

Fool me once, shame on you. But the shameless KMT will let the CCP fool them as many times as it takes for Taiwan to be annexed.

---

Kneel-son ratings: Taiwan, 台灣, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chiang Pin-kung, 江丙坤, P.K. Chiang, Straits Exchange Foundation, 海峽交流基金會, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林>, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, 海峽兩岸關係協會, Chinese Communist Party, 中國共產黨, China Post, 英文中國郵報

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, Chiang Pin-kung, China Post, Chinese Communist Party, KMT, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan, 中國共產黨, 台灣, 國民黨, 江丙坤, 英文中國郵報, 陳雲林, 馬英九

Will the mainstream media do the right thing?

Coordinator: Taiwan Sovereignty Watch/ 台灣主權觀測站

Contact Info: Billy Pan 0968-718673、Michael 0935-156396、Luna 0917-228-367

Contact Email: ocotTaiwan@gmail.com

Who we are?

There are lots of bloggers and volunteers in Taiwan and overseas concern current Taiwan Police Violates Civil Rights When Maintaining Order during the Meeting of Taiwan's and China's Top Negotiators.

Due to most appeals and protests are blocked and distorted seriously on the mainstream media in Taiwan. Therefore, we set up the website and blogs delivering our press release, reports and so on. We continue watching these matters and offering different materials in other languages.

Please further visit our website or contact us directly. We really need you to help us to speak our voice out at this key moment. If you have any further questions, please be free to leave your messages on our website or reply to us. We will try to reply to you soon. Thank you so much.

Official website: That will be free to use or cite the documents or photos.

http://ocot.tw/ (一中一台 / One China, One Taiwan)

http://www.ocot.tw/blog/ (Taiwan Sovereignty Watch)

**More photos or news in Chinese，you may visit Billy Pan's Blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/billypan101/14367606


【Press Release】(English Version)

Taiwan Police Violates Civil Rights When Maintaining Order During the Meeting of Taiwan's and China's Top Negotiators

2008.11.5
Chen Yunlin, the chief of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, landed at Taiwan on November 3rd. He signed agreements on passenger-cargo flight, maritime shipping, mail service and food safety related issues with Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation. These agreements made Taiwan and China enter an age of three direct links. He would also meet President Ma Ying-Jeou of Taiwan.

For a long time, China has repressed any opportunities of Taiwan to participate international events. China neither recognizes Taiwan as a sovereign nation nor gives up its plan of making martial intrusion into Taiwan. Many Taiwanese people, including Taiwan's biggest opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party, were worried that Kuomintang government would not be able to defend for Taiwan's sovereignty during the negotiation. They also questioned that this meeting was not put under public examination. They are holding protests throughout Chen Yunlin's visit to Taiwan, expressing their claims, such as "One Taiwan, One China". Those people against China's forceful repression of Tibet's independence activities also joined the protests, holding "Free Tibet" slogan.



For Chen Yunlin's Taiwan visit, the Kuomingtang administration has specifically deployed some seven thousand policemen and special agents to cordon off the venues where Chen would appear in an attempt to prevent the public from raising protests. Measures employed by the police to guard Chen these days have, however, gone beyond the bounds of the law and the Constitution and seriously infringed on citizens' personal liberties and civil rights. Following are some instances:

1. The policy confiscated and damaged personal belongings of flags and balloons held by people at protest venues.

2. In the evening of November 2, four Taichung City Councilors, Chen Shu-hua (陳淑華), Chiu Su-chen (邱素貞), Chi Li-yu (紀麗玉) and Lai Chia-wei (賴佳微), checked in the Grand Hotel where Chen Yulin would stay during his visit. The next morning, they displayed protest banners from the balcony of their room. Within one minute, special agents broke in the balcony and entered their room, without their consent, to remove banners and restrain their actions.

3. Three bloggers with national flags of Taiwan and Tibet in hand were forcefully taken away by the police when walking southbound along Chung Shan North Rd and passing by the Taiwan Cement Building, where Chen Yunlin visited Cecilia Koo Yen, widow of the former chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation. The arrest caused the dislocation of fingers of one of the bloggers, but police refused to send her for medical treatment until she provided personal information.

4. Chen Yu-ching (陳育青), a photographer who visited friends near the Grand Hotel, was arrested and sent to the police station for interrogation for shooting the video of the banned area with hand-held camera.

5. Hung Chien-yi (洪建益), a Taipei councilman, entered the Ambassador Hotel, where Chen Yunlin's dinner reception was held, in the afternoon. When leaving by himself in the evening, he was dragged away on the ground for tens of yards by several police officers at the front gate of the hotel. He did not shout derogatory slogans or carry any dangerous items but only wore a T-shirt with the mark of "No Conspiracy with China" on it.

6. On November 4th, while Chen Yunlin was at the dinner reception hosted by KMT leaders at the Ambassador Hotel, a nearby record store was playing some Taiwanese song out loud. The police thought the song would stir up the feelings of the protesters on the scene, so they, in uniform or plainclothes, led by Beitou Police District Chief Lee Han Ching, broke into that record store, asked the store owner to stop the music, and shut the door.

7. On November 3rd, the Association of Taiwan Journalist issued that Cheng Chieh-wen (鄭傑文), a photojournalist from the Central News Agency, was dragged by the security police for 10 meters while he was doing his job at the Grand Hotel, and that an inappropriate press coverage area plan had caused quarrels between the press and the officials. ATJ declared that press freedom was under severe attack in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the government imposed such strict control over press coverage for this event that several reporters from Hong Kong said they failed to get press passes and had limited rights for coverage.

Protests are continuing, so are actions that invade human rights, actions that do harm to freedom of speech and personal liberty. These actions not only violated both Taiwan's criminal and civil laws but also contradicted the Constitution that should have protected the rights of people. We will be watching these events, and we want to raise our severe objections to the police in Taiwan.



(新聞稿，中文版)

台灣警方在江陳會談期間的維安工作，侵犯正常公民權利的行使

2008.11.5
中國海協會會長陳雲林在11月3日抵達台灣，預計和台灣海基會會長江丙坤簽署包括海運、空運、郵政、食品安全等事務性協議，並和馬英九總統進行會面，正式邁向大三通的時代。

由於中國政府長期打壓台灣在國際上的活動空間，不願承認台灣是一個主權獨立的國家，也不放棄武力犯台，包括台灣主要反對黨—民進黨在內的許多台灣民眾，憂心國民黨政府在無法在協商過程之中堅守台灣主權，並且質疑這次會談的透明度，他們預備在陳雲林的台灣行程之中，沿途抗議，表達「台灣中國，一邊一國」等訴求。抗議民眾也包括不滿中國鎮壓圖博的圖博人士，他們提出「Free Tibet」的口號。

國民黨政府為了這次的會談，部屬了七千名的警察與特勤人員，在每一個會談的場合，以優勢警力圍起了封鎖線，試圖阻止民眾的抗議。然而，警方在這幾天所執行的維安工作，卻有執法過當的嫌疑，嚴重侵犯人身自由與妨礙公民權利的行使。以下舉例部份侵權事件：

1、在抗議場合，警方強制沒收、損毀台灣民眾手持的旗幟、空飄氣球等私人物品。

2、台中市議員陳淑華等四人，11月2日晚間入住陳雲林下榻的圓山飯店。11月3日上午，陳雲林車隊抵達圓山飯店之前，這四名議員在自己的房間陽台，掛起大型抗議布條。在一分鐘之內，未經陳淑華等人的同意，特勤人員隨即闖入陽台，進入陳淑華等人的房間，強行拆除布條，並壓制陳淑華等人的行動。

3、三名部落客沿著中山北路向南行經台泥大樓（陳雲林拜會辜嚴倬雲地點），因為批戴台灣國旗與圖博雪山獅子旗，被警方強行帶離，並造成一名部落客手指脫臼。警方甚至要求先留下資料，才願意送其至醫院。

4、影像工作者陳育青因為前往圓山飯店附近探訪友人，途中使用小型手持攝影機拍攝圓山飯店的現場封鎖情形，隨即被警方強制押進警察，帶至警局訊問。

5、台北市議員洪建益下午進入國賓飯店（陳雲林晚宴地點），於晚間獨自一人從飯店大門離開，並無任何呼喊口號的舉止，也沒有攜帶任何不當物品，只因為露出外套底下「勿通匪類」的t-shirt，隨即在飯店門口被多名警員強行托行數十公尺離開現場。

6、11月4日晚間，當陳雲林和國民黨要員於國賓飯店飯店進行晚宴時，附近的一家唱片行播放台灣歌謠，警方認為該歌謠鼓吹煽動現場抗議民眾，北投分局長李漢卿帶領數名制服及便衣員警，強行進入該唱片行，要求店家關閉音樂，隨後並強制拉下店家的鐵門。

7、台灣記者協會發出於11月3日發出聲明，2日中央社攝影記者鄭傑文於圓山飯店採訪遭到維安人員推拉約十公尺，3日又因採訪動線規劃不妥，造成媒體與官員的口角衝突。台灣新聞記者協會表示，這些行為嚴重侵害採訪自由。同時，此次相關單位嚴格管制媒體採訪，多名來自香港的記者表示無法取得採訪證，採訪權利受到限制。

抗議事件目前持續發生中，類似侵權行為也沒有減緩的跡象，這些行為均傷害了言論與人身自由，甚至違反我國刑事與民事法條，且牴觸憲法對於人民正常權利的保障。我們會持續關注這些事件，並對台灣的警政單位表達嚴正的抗議。



Too many police in Taipei
(Click to enlarge)

The pain!
(Click to enlarge)

This woman's finger was dislocated by police because of the flag she was holding
(Click to enlarge)

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Pressure valves: Taiwan, 台灣, martial law, 戒嚴, police state, 警察國家, violence, 暴力, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, media, 媒體

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, martial law, media, police state, Taiwan, violence, 台灣, 媒體, 戒嚴, 暴力, 警察國家, 陳雲林

Ma will bring peace? Get the fuck outta here!

Let me say it up front, and let me say it loudly:
THE PEOPLE OF TAIWAN DO NOT WANT A POLICE STATE! TAIWAN IS NOT PART OF CHINA!

I can also say without much doubt that they're already pretty fucking tired of Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration.

The blue and red elephants in the room
As I mentioned earlier, martial law is being reintroduced to Taiwan, and the philistine police response to protesters as well as to people simply expressing their feelings is a clear indication of this situation.

People walking in unrestricted spaces have been grabbed by police for merely carrying ROC flags or video cameras. A music store (Sunrise Records [上揚唱片]) playing patriotic Taiwanese music was shut down by police, injuring at least one person inside and damaging store property. Two women peacefully carrying ROC and Tibetan flags were arrested, at least one being injured by police in the process. The police didn't cite any laws in these cases.

DPP politicians Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群), Wang Hsiao-wei (王孝維), and Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁) were walking near the Grand Hotel (圓山大飯店). One of them was clearly pushed to the ground by police, despite the non-violent behavior of the entire group.

When four DPP city councilors from Taichung unfurled two banners from the window of a room they had booked in the Grand Hotel before the arrival of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), police forced their way into the room, removed the banners, and whisked the room's occupants away to the hotel's basement.


Pro-Taiwan banners are unfurled at the Grand Hotel ahead of Chen Yunlin's arrival
"Get out, commie bandit Chen Yunlin" and "Taiwan is Taiwan"
(Taipei Times photo)
(Click to enlarge)
Taxis are being asked by police to leave certain areas because of the flags on their roof lights.

Ma says he didn't hand down any such orders, but whether he did or not, he didn't express any opposition to the abusive actions of the police either.

Former DPP officials are also being rounded up and "being held incommunicado and without charge."

(It's kind of hard to finish this post because I've been watching police on TV doing things like punching people in the face, knocking them down, and dragging them along the ground.)

Wednesday's Taipei Times put the number of police personnel involved in this week's events at between 7,000 and 9,000.

Could this be the "anti-secession" law (which "legislates" the arbitrary use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan) coming into effect, as some have suggested? Chen Yunlin said that he "saw and heard" the protesters, after all.

Is everybody awake yet? How long have I been trying to alert the world? Don't wait until the bloggers, the Talking Show (大話新聞) hosts, and all of your friends get arrested before you do something. Immediately educate everyone you know about what's going on!

When the police enforce laws that don't exist, what else should you call it but (undeclared) "martial law"? You should acquaint yourself with some of its names:

Hanzi: 戒嚴

Pinyin: jièyán

Taiwanese/Hoklo/Holo: kaegiaam/kài-giâm

Hakka (客語): gai ngiam

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Not-so-distant early warnings: Taiwan, 台灣, martial law, 戒嚴, police state, 警察國家, violence, 暴力, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, "anti-secession" law, 反分裂國家法, Social Order Maintenance Law, 社會秩序維護法

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: "anti-secession" law, Chen Yunlin, martial law, police state, Social Order Maintenance Law, Taiwan, violence, 反分裂國家法, 台灣, 戒嚴, 暴力, 社會秩序維護法, 警察國家, 陳雲林

Too numerous for some to properly estimate

A protest Saturday in Taipei against the harm brought upon the country by Ma "Don't Paint Me Red" Ying-jeou (馬英九) and China had a huge turnout.

At around 6 PM, the very blue Era News reported a turnout of "400,000" while FTV was saying "600,000" right up until 10 PM.

But when TVBS said that there were 500,000 people at an anti-Ma/anti-China rally, then you can be pretty sure that there were at least that many.


Talking Show (大話新聞) discusses Reuters' coverage
(Click to enlarge)
Even Reuters' Ralph Jennings -- of whom I've been extremely critical for getting the story very wrong when it comes to Taiwan -- tells us that "half a million" attended the protest:

Half a million march in Taiwan against China, president

Close to half a million people marched in Taiwan on Saturday to protest against the government's growing ties with China, where a tainted milk powder scandal has fueled fresh distrust toward Beijing among island citizens.

In the strongest display of opposition yet to President Ma Ying-jeou, demonstrators flooded central Taipei demanding that Ma step down over his friendly approach to Chinese officials.

I wasn't able to attend today's rally because I had to work, but Jerome Keating took part, and he replies to that report, saying, "I would concur with at least a half a million; perhaps more." Good to see a believable figure from Jennings this time around.

On the lower end of the crowd estimates, my wife heard on TV that the Taipei police claim that there were "200,000" participants, and in CNN's headline news segment, Rosemary Church says "tens of thousands" -- the same vague and inaccurate description used by the BBC.

What next?
As 10 PM approached and the event drew to a close, DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) says to be prepared to take to the streets again if the planned visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) happens. Despite how Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokespersons and surrogates tried to spin the news, this was more than just "the DPP base" out there today, and neither Ma nor China are doing anything to satisfy them.

Keep your eyes and ears open.

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Participants: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, protest, 抗議, Ralph Jennings, 唐甯思, Reuters, 路透社

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, China, Ma Ying-jeou, protest, Ralph Jennings, Reuters, Taiwan, 中國, 台灣, 唐甯思, 抗議, 路透社, 陳雲林, 馬英九

Say No to China's Poison!

Barely five months into the presidency of Ma "Don't paint me red" Ying-jeou (馬英九), Taiwan has suffered too many problems related to its bellicose and untrustworthy neighbor China. As a result, Ma's popularity rating has plummeted to 23.6%, according to the latest survey by the very blue Global Views Magazine (遠見雜誌).. Now, the spineless and incompetent Mr. Ma has invited Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to sign agreements -- unapproved by the people of Taiwan -- that will undoubtedly bring even more suffering to all of us here.

I shouldn't have to tell you anything more. If you don't want China interfering with your life, be there at the October 25, 2008 protest in Taipei!


0:27 YouTube video: "A March for a Cause: Safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty"

Here are the 5 marching routes which all converge on Ketagalan Boulevard (凱達格蘭大道) -- the road in front of the Presidential Office:

Routes of the 1025 march
(Click to enlarge)
Here's one logo for the protest, "Oppose China's crappy merchandise, protect Taiwan":

A safe Taiwan is China-free
(Click to enlarge)

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Forks in the road: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, protest, 抗議

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, China, Ma Ying-jeou, protest, Taiwan, 中國, 台灣, 抗議, 陳雲林, 馬英九