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Taiwan Tati Cultural |
Dear Mr. President Bill Clinton,
Mr. Trent Lott,
Mr. Denny Hastert,
Mr. President Jacques Chirac,
Mr. Chancellor Gerhard Schrö
der,
Mr. Prime Minister Tony Blair,
Mr. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi,
Dr. Parris H. Chang,
We are watching our eye on the effect of Soong’s sequence that relating to riot over KMT headquarters. There are many non-KMT’s parties and people besieged with chanting unreasonable word “Step down President!”
From the reports (Sunday March 19 12:46 PM ET)
by William Foreman, Associated Press Writer ---
Taipei, Taiwan (AP) – Storming the Nationalist Party’s headquarters, a
stone-throwing crowd demanded – and got – President Lee Teng-hui’s promise
Sunday to quit as the party’s leader, one day after its humiliating election
defeat.
Many of the thousands of protesters blamed Lee for fielding a weak candidate who was trounced by the opposition in Saturday’s presidential election.
The vote will bring to power an untested leader, Chen Shui-bian, who some fear could spark a devastating war with Taiwan’s longtime rival, China, through his party’s support for the island’s formal independence. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and China insists Taiwan must eventually reunify with the mainland.
A crowd of about 3,000 chanted “Step down president!” and surrounded the Nationalists’ headquarters in downtown Taipei.
Some smashed the windows of limousines bringing party members to the building for an emergency meeting with Lee to respond to Vice President Lien Chan’s loss in Saturday’s vote.
An angry mob chased senior party adviser Hsu Li-teh down the sidewalk, kicking, punching and beating him with poles. They knocked him to the ground, but he was able to stand up and scurry into the building.
The violence and chaos were rare for Taiwan, where political violence is almost unheard of and heated street protests have grown increasingly rare as full democracy has taken root over the past decade.
But with the Nationalists losing the presidency for the first time in Taiwanese history, the island’s young democracy headed into the unexplored and voters tried to make sense of what the loss meant for their party’s future. They also looked for some to blame.
“Don’t get us wrong. We respect Chen’s victory, because that’s what democracy is all about. But things have to change,” said a bank employee who would give only his surname, Yang.
The protest, which left several people with minor injuries, contrasted strongly with the tone of Chen’s triumphant first day as president-elect.
As he prepared to embark on the awesome task of forming a new, minority government, Chen spent Sunday visiting government agencies and offering thanks at temples and to his supporters, while avoiding any mention of specifics on China.
In a deeply symbolic round of political ancestor worship, Chen stood at the grave of Huang Hsin-chieh, an early leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, burning incense and telling the “founding father” of Taiwan’s democracy about the “great victory yesterday.”
Chen and the vice president-elect, pioneering feminist Annette Lu, held out a conciliatory gesture toward the Nationalists.
“I will exert all effort to learn from the success and experience of Lee Teng-hui to lead Taiwan and the entire Taiwanese people,” Chen said.
Chen also praised Lee for his plan to form a small transitional working group to oversee the change in government that comes in May. The Nationalists will relinquish power for the first time since Gen. Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan after losing mainland China to Mao Tse-tung’s Communists in 1949.
The 77-year-old Lee presided over Taiwan’s evolution from an authoritarian state to a democracy with direct president elections during his 12 years as the island’s leader. Lee won the first election in 1996. He will leave office May 20.
Lee’s accomplishments meant little to many in the crowd outside party headquarters.
“Lee Teng-hui sold out the people. He sold out the entire country. It’s time to go,” said 44-year-old banker Cathy Chan, who said she hadn’t slept since Chen won the vote.
After the election defeat, Lee, who is famous for his stubbornness, said he would not step down from his party post. But by late Sunday evening, he changed his mind and party spokesman Huang Huei-chen delivered the news.
“To show our determination for reform after the major election setback, we will form a reform committee to strengthen our organization and join forces with the public,” Huang said.
Lee plans to resign in September, along with other senior party members. The president ordered the formation of a committee that would preside over the naming a new party leader, Huang said. Lien also offered to resign as the party’s vice chairman but Lee asked him to stay on.
Chen’s victory was largely a result of a split in the party caused by the expulsion of a popular Nationalist leader, James Soong, who refused to support Lien and launched his own independent campaign.
Many of the protesters who clashed with police Sunday supported Soong, who finished a close second, and blamed Lee for causing the party’s schism.
Chao in the Nationalists ranks widened as Soong announced late in the afternoon that he would form his own party.
“We will forge the views of the majority Taiwanese and turn them into the truly stabilizing power of Taiwan,” Soong told reporters.
Taiwan has long lived in the shadow of China’s threats and the international community was on guard for signs of instability across the Taiwan Strait.
China has said it would wait to see how Chen would handle relations, but the election results “will not change the status of Taiwan as a part of China.”
A conflict could quickly involve the United States, which has hinted it would defend the island if necessary …
In our views, when New Taiwanese has enjoyed its fruits of democracy on the President Lee’s programmatic strived past, few mainlanders in Taiwan were shocked by results of their privilege were quitting by way of democratic system.
However, KMT had governed Taiwan for about 55 years. The corruption of “black gold” let KMT’s government failed at this time of “presidential campaign”.
Nevertheless; Mr. Democracy as President Lee Teng-hui had achieved four importance of “miracles”
A.Economic miracle
B.Democratic miracle
C.Cross-Strait’s balance
D.Transfer government from KMT to DPP that following the way of peaceful democratic election.
President Lee not only a leader of Taiwanese people, but also a chairman of the Nationalist party’s, despite the failure of “election”. President Lee insisted the results must be respected and accepted by whole Taiwanese people over the spirit of “democratic system”. We respected President Lee’s statement and his honest.
On the other hand, some mainlanders’ reaction should repent over self-absorption with the governed history that had ruled Taiwan for about 55 years.
Taiwan’s democracy needs your support.
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Yours Sincerely, 
Yang Hsu-Tung. |
