1025 Rally To Safeguard Taiwan - Background - Cross-strait Relations

Cross-strait Relations

See also: Cross-strait relations and Political status of Taiwan

The People's Republic of China claims that self-ruled Taiwan is its 23rd province. The PRC has threatened the use of force if Taiwan declares de jure independence from China.

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.

During a private visit to the Taiwan Confucian Temple in Tainan, Zhang fell to the ground as he encounters a small number of protesters led by the DPP's Tainan City legislator Wang Ting-yu. It was not clear whether he tripped or was pushed down, but Zhang was hurt. The car that Zhang was in was attacked and damaged when a protester jumped on the top of the car. Later, Zhang remarked, "Those who commit violence do not get what they want, but instead drop a rock on their own feet." as well as "A handful of compatriots in Tainan were involved in the violence (against me). They do not reflect the true feelings of the vast majority of compatriots in Tainan, nor the 23 million people of Taiwan."

DPP's Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu said that any use of violence is not acceptable by the Taiwanese society and this includes the PRC's threat of force on Taiwan. She demanded President Ma to condemn the PRC's threat of force on Taiwan. She said that the export of toxic food and the thousands of missiles aimed at Taiwan are also forms of violence.