Yes, Taiwan!

"We are here today to defend democracy, and to oppose annexation, (China's) authoritarian regime, and missiles. We are making a declaration to the international community that Taiwan is a sovereign nation."

MASSIVE RALLY ASSERTS TAIWAN'S SOVEREIGNTY

2006-03-18 17:33:41 CNA

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) Over 100,000 people took to the streets in Taipei Saturday to assert Taiwan's sovereignty, defend democracy and protest against China's intention to annex Taiwan.

The rally was held by the Taiwan Democracy Alliance for Peace. Present at the rally were Presidential Office Secretary-General Tan Sun Chen, Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang. "We are here today to defend democracy, and to oppose annexation, (China's) authoritarian regime, and missiles. We are making a declaration to the international community that Taiwan is a sovereign nation," rally program host DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-liang said.

Shu said that the rally was to demonstrate that the Taiwanese people are the masters of Taiwan, and Taiwan and China are two separate countries.

Meanwhile, Yu pointed out that it is important for Taiwan to speak out for itself and its sovereignty. "China is suppressing Taiwan all the time: China continues to tell the world that Taiwan is a part of China, and if we do not speak out the truth, then that means we acquiesce to the statement. We cannot allow that, so we have to stand up and speak our mind, " Yu said.

Yu said that during Taiwan's first popular presidential election in 1996, China threatened Taiwan by lobbing missiles into the sea near Taiwan, but the Taiwanese people used their votes to show that they were not intimidated.

He further pointed out that when China passed the Anti-Secession Law last year, Taiwanese people held a rally against it and won international support. "As long as China does not stop suppressing Taiwan, we will continue our rallies in democratic March in the future, " Yu said.
He said that in the past ten years, March has been a key time in deepening democracy in Taiwan, pointing out that March has always been the month for presidential elections in the country.

Yu stressed that this kind of rally is not intended to cause conflict between the "pan-green" and the "pan-blue" camps and that he is disappointed that the opposition has been making snide remarks about the rally.

He criticized the opposition for not speaking out for Taiwan in the international community. He claimed that when the opposition held a rally last week, the rally was a protest against the ceasing of the operations of the National Unification Council and that it was aimed at creating conflict within Taiwan. "Only by defending democracy can we bring domestic stability, and with domestic stability comes economic development, and then comes happiness for our future generations," Yu said.