Activists call for Retrocession Day national vacation

Transcription

1 Activists call for Retrocession Day national vacation By Max Hirsch STAFF REPORTER A throng of pro-china demonstrators gathered outside the Ministry of the Interior yesterday to demand that the government designate Retrocession Day as a national holiday. Retrocession Day celebrates the end of the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan on Oct. 25, 1945, as well as the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese War ( ), and is observed by Chinese worldwide. "We need to remind the government of the importance of Retrocession Day -- of the more than 30 million Chinese who died at the hands of the Japanese military in China, and of the many who suffered under Japanese colonial rule here in Taiwan," said Tang Shu, a demonstration organizer. Lin Jui-hsia, right, president of the ``Concern for Public Affairs Association'' and Huang Mao-chuan, who bears a striking resemblance to former dictator Chiang Kai-shek, yesterday lead a protest mocking Retrocession Day as a celebration of Chiang's ``robbery'' of Taiwan. Retrocession Day used to be a national holiday, but has not been observed since 2001 as the government has instead pushed for two-day weekends. Luo Su-chuan, a ministry representative, emerged from the ministry offices to accept a letter from the activists calling on the government to make Retrocession Day an official holiday. Maggie Cheng, another organizer, told the Taipei Times that her group consisted of mostly Mainlanders who advocated unifying with China. 1

2 "But we're not associated with the current anti-president Chen Shui-bian campaign," Cheng added, despite the fact that numerous protesters wore "Depose Chen" baseball caps. Shu, meanwhile, denounced Chen for not enshrining a holiday that was important to ethnic Chinese, adding that the US was pitting the Taiwanese and Chinese against each other to maintain its own hegemonic interests and a lucrative trade in weapons to Taiwan. "The Americans don't like symbols of cross-strait unification such as Retrocession Day because they need to promote cross-strait enmity in order to sell their weapons," Tang said. Tang added that although China has deployed more than 800 ballistic missiles on the east coast, "very few of the missiles actually target Taiwan." Although the US was frustrated with a long-stalled arms package in the Legislative Yuan, US arms dealers were scrambling to sell other weapons to the country, Tang said. Meanwhile, on a related issue, the Taiwan Society last night held an indoor rally in Kaohsiung to expand the "local culture movement," an event that the organizer hoped would counter the "misconceptions" about local culture and national identity created by the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "colonial culture" in the post-world War II period. Yang Wen-chia, the society's secretary-general, said the public has been influenced by the KMT's view of Oct. 25 as "Taiwan Retrocession Day," but the nation's true restoration has yet to come. LA police probe homeless dumping REUTERS, LOS ANGELES 2

3 "Our supervisors gave that guy a ride back to his house. His family was outraged. Not only did they not know he had been discharged but the fact he had been brought to skid row instead of back home was a further outrage." Greg McManus, LAPD sergeant Los Angeles police have launched a criminal investigation into the dumping of homeless people on a run down area in the city after ambulances were spotted dropping off discharged hospital patients there. The practice had long been suspected, but police say they now have evidence, releasing pictures and video to the media on Tuesday of five hospital patients being left in the downtown area commonly known as "skid row." "We cannot allow the dumping of the most needy... into that environment, and shame on those who do," Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told reporters on Tuesday. In this photograph released on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Police Department, an unidentified patient with his personal items in a plastic bag is interviewed by a police officer. Police said the five people they documented all on Sunday were left on skid row against their will. One 62-year-old man, released from the hospital after treatment on his knee, told police he had asked to be taken to his son's home. "Our supervisors gave that guy a ride back to his house. His family was outraged. Not only did they not know he had been discharged but the fact he had been brought to skid row instead of back home was a further outrage," Sergeant Greg McManus told reporters. Los Angeles Metropolitan hospital, which was involved in all five cases, denied leaving the patients outside a skid row rescue center against their will, saying they had asked to go there. 3

4 An estimated 12,000 homeless live and sleep on the sidewalks of skid row, an area about 50 blocks in size, in what is thought to be the highest concentration of homeless in the US. Man are mentally ill and thousands are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Shelters and groups providing social and mental services have claimed repeatedly that hospitals and police departments in nearby cities dump problem people in the area. Last year, police reported seeing someone wearing a colostomy bag wandering there in a confused state. "Skid row is akin to Dante's Inferno not the place you want to be discharging patients, especially elderly patients or patients who are disoriented, suffering from a medical disability or disorder," said Jeff Isaacs, head of the Los Angeles city attorney's criminal branch. The investigation will focus on possible violations of federal laws that require medical facilities to screen and stabilize patients before releasing them. It comes as the Los Angeles city council seeks a compromise on a policy that attempted to ban people from sitting, lying or sleeping on the streets. It was ruled unconstitutional in April on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishments. Pass the arms bill By Dai Kaifeng The revised arms procurement bill proposed by the Ministry of National Defense was blocked again in the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday. After Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators last week made a verbal promise that they would let the revised bill through a Procedure Committee meeting after the government withdrew the initial package, they reneged on their word. This raises worries about the nation's security. According to the 2006 National Defense Report published by the ministry, China 4

5 continues to expand its military spending. In addition to adding advanced weapons from Russia, China is also developing and manufacturing a new generation of jet fighters and warships. Furthermore, China has engaged in combined exercises with foreign countries, which are expected to increase its influence in the region. These actions indicate that China's military threat is intensifying and poses a threat to the security of the Taiwan Strait. Most people in Taiwan hope that their representatives can be rational enough to at least take a look at the arms procurement package in the legislature. Legislators who veto the arms bill because of their political perspective are placing their party's interests before the nation's. I would like people to be aware of the need for a strong defense in light of the threat posed by China, and hope that they can express this concern to their legislative representatives. Dai Kaifeng Taichung 5

6 Democracy in action Democratic Action Alliance members protest in front of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters during the party's Central Committee meeting yesterday. Their posters call for an end to corruption, opposition to the arms procurement bill and for Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li to step down over his conviction on corruption charges. 6