Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TAIPEI1436
2005-03-28 12:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

MARCH 26 RALLY CONCLUDES PEACEFULLY, ROCKY ROAD

Tags:  PGOV PREL CH TW 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001436 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: MARCH 26 RALLY CONCLUDES PEACEFULLY, ROCKY ROAD
AHEAD

REF: TAIPEI 01403

Classified By: AIT Deputy Director David J. Keegan, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001436

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL CH TW
SUBJECT: MARCH 26 RALLY CONCLUDES PEACEFULLY, ROCKY ROAD
AHEAD

REF: TAIPEI 01403

Classified By: AIT Deputy Director David J. Keegan, Reason(s): 1.4 (B/D
)


1. (C) Summary: The March 26 "Love Peace, Protect Taiwan"
rally organized to protest the PRC's Anti-Secession Law (ASL)
proceeded peacefully. The Pan-Green claimed it mobilized
almost one million people, but actual numbers are difficult
to determine and subject to an ongoing partisan debate.
President Chen Shui-bian marched with supporters and led a
folk song, but did not make a speech. His participation
appears to have helped achieve the government's goal of
preventing former President Lee Teng-hui from using the event
to promote Taiwan independence themes. Nevertheless Lee's
March 27 call for a "major adjustment" in Taiwan's
cross-Strait policy suggests that the DPP might have
difficulty in keeping him quiet for long. Opposition leaders
were conspicuously absent from the march. KMT officials
instead announced that they would send KMT Vice Chairman
Chiang Pin-kung to the PRC to showcase the party's ability to
handle cross-Strait relation in a less antagonistic manner.
The divided domestic political attitudes and the publication
of a letter by a pro-Green business leader allegedly under
pressure from Beijing (Septel) to protect his business
interests on the Mainland indicate that President Chen's
expectations that the march would bring "closure" over the
Anti-Secession Law may be premature. End Summary.

--------------
Peace and Love Blowin' in the Wind
--------------


2. (C) President Chen and the DPP mobilized several hundred
thousand people on March 26 in Taipei to protest the PRC's
Anti-Secession Law passed by the National People's Congress
on March 14. The nominal organizer, the Taiwan Democratic
Alliance for Peace, a Pan-Green organization comprised of 34
civil groups and over 500 societies, organized the day under
the banner "Love Taiwan, peace, and democracy". This was
the first major Pan-Green rally since the February 28, 2004
Hands Across Taiwan demonstration.


3. (C) The rally was peaceful with a carnival-like atmosphere
resounding with music and song. The sentiments expressed by
the crowd were very pro-Taiwan and pro-peace rather than

explicitly anti-China, although there were several instances
of PRC flag burning and a widely photographed image of people
stomping on a sidewalk picture of Jiang Zemin. Participants
chanted "Love Taiwan, Love Peace" and "Yes, Taiwan! No,
China!" and sung several songs, including "We Shall
Overcome." AIT observers noted that the overall mood and
tone of the event was calm with no sense of impending threat.
People carried flags, signs and inflatable batons bearing
messages of peace and democracy. At the central rally site
organizers erected a five-story-high white balloon
representing peace and a large red sea urchin, its needles
symbolizing the missiles the PRC has aimed at Taiwan. No
major clashes were reported.


4. (C) The actual number of participants is the subject of
ongoing partisan debate. Media estimates of attendance
numbers varied greatly. The Taipei Times and Associated
Press reported one million people took to Taipei's streets,
while Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou cited police estimates
of 275,000 participants. AIT observers reported that numbers
were close to the turn-out for the March 13, 2004 rally which
also was estimated in the hundreds of thousands of people.

--------------
President Chen Sings
--------------


5. (C) President Chen maintained a low profile, keeping to
his promise of not making a formal speech. Accompanied by
his family and several members of the Presidential Office
staff, he marched along one of the pre-planned routes for
about twenty-five minutes. The event peaked at 1715 Taipei
time when he took to the stage and led the crowd in singing a
Taiwanese folk song and chanting peace and democracy slogans.
The energy amongst the people clearly spiked as he took to
the stage, but Chen resisted the temptation to address the
assembled masses.

--------------
KMT Criticizes Rally, Calls for Dialogue
--------------


6. (C) Pan-Blue leadership did not attend the rally, but
officials did not bar individual members from attending. AIT
observers noted that no Pan-Blue figures were on the scene.
The KMT leadership publicly criticized the rally as an
unproductive means for dealing with cross-Strait relations
and a waste of resources. A more productive means for
addressing the issue, according to the KMT, would be through
dialogue with the PRC. KMT Chairman Lien Chen told press
that the party's first official delegation to visit the
Mainland since 1949, led by KMT Vice Chairman Chiang
Ping-kun, will aim to "step up efforts to resume dialogue and
work together for mutual benefit."

--------------
Comment: Rocky Road Ahead?
--------------


7. (C) The ASL, along with pressure on Taiwan business
interests (Septel),will make it difficult for President Chen
to use the March 26 rally to bring "closure" over the ASL and
resume progress on liberalizing cross-Strait contacts. To
further complicate matters, former President Lee Teng-hui,
after being silent at the rally, on March 27 called for the
government to follow upon the rally with concrete actions,
including changing its "China policy" and dropping plans to
negotiate direct cross-Strait travel links. Expectations of
possible renewed pressure from Beijing and a deeply divided
political front at home suggest that President Chen and
Taiwan will have to continue down what Chen described on
March 24 as "the rugged path full of thistles and thorns"
before the government is able to return cross-Strait
relations to the path it was on before the ASL was enacted.
PAAL