1025 rally to safeguard Taiwan
The October 25, 2008 anti-China protest was a Taiwanese demonstration sponsored by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union in Taipei, Taiwan.This protest march was launched five months after Ma's inauguration and was preceded by an earlier protest in August which focused on Ma's failing economic plans.
The protesters marched against the pro-China policies of the Ma administration. Half a million people were reported to have participated in the march. It was planned by the DPP in response to the Chinese tainted milk powder scandal and the government's growing ties with China.
Background
Chinese oppressions
Self-ruled Taiwan has been claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) as its own since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The PRC has threatened to use force, if necessary, to bring the island under its rule.[1]
Zhang Mingqing, the deputy chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, arrived in Taiwan about a week before the protest. When asked by reporters to comment on President Ma's remarks that there will be no war across the Taiwan Strait in the next four years, Zhang expressed that there will never be war in the Strait if there is no Taiwan independence.[2]
During a private visit to the Taiwan Confucian Temple in Tainan, Zhang fell to the ground as he encounters a small number of protestors led by DPP legislator Wang Ting-yu. It was not clear whether he tripped or was pushed down. The car that Zhang was in was attacked and damaged by a protester. Later, Zhang remarked, "Those who commit violence do not get what they want, but instead drop a rock on their own feet."[2]
The quoted comment was seen as an ironic comment by pro-independence Taiwanese as Zhang had just posed a military threat prior to the incident. Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu demanded President Ma to condemn China's use of violence on Taiwan. She said that the export of toxic food and the thousands of missiles aimed at Taiwan are also forms of violence.[3]
Toxic products
Food safety in the People's Republic of China has become a major issue in Taiwan. The Ma administration's close ties with China has worried the pro-localization population.
Economic problems
Organization
Parade routes
- Oppose Toxic Goods
- Oppose One China Education
- Oppose the Hollowing Out of Sovereignty
- Oppose a One China Market
- Oppose the Incompetent Government
Media coverage
References
- ^ "Half a million march in Taiwan against China" (Press release). Reuters. 10-25-2008. Retrieved 10-25-2008.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ a b "ARATS man jostled, jeered at in Tainan" (Press release). Taipei Times. 10-22-2008. Retrieved 10-25-2008.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "陳菊籲馬英九應譴責中國大陸對台灣的暴力" (Press release) (in traditional Chinese). Epoch Times. 10-22-2008. Retrieved 10-25-2008.
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