Winners, Losers, huge crowds turn out for Chen

Huge crowds turned out for the pro-government demonstration yesterday.

An estimated 150,000 people crowded into Ketegalan Boulevard and Chungshan South Road to "stand up for Taiwan" yesterday afternoon in a "Love, Hope and Formosa Sunrise" rally sponsored by the pro-independence Taiwan Society and backed by the governing Democratic Progressive Party.

Taiwan Society Secretary-General Yang Wen-chia (楊文嘉) was greeted with thunderous applause when he announced at the end of the rally at 6:00 p.m. that 150,000 persons had taken part in the event.

The pro-Green Taipei Times reported the claim of the march organizers that 200,000 showed up. Organizers had originally expected 40,000, while this writer is forced to eat his words because I didn't think they'd have more than 10,000. While it is clear that 200,000 is too high, it is also clear that attendance vastly exceeded expectations. There are a lot of people angry at the pro-Blue demonstrators for -- once again -- threatening national stability and attacking Taiwan's democracy. And I have to eat my words twice, for I didn't think the counter-demonstration was a good idea. It appears to have been highly successful.

There were a few sporadic outbreaks of violence. Green demonstrators attacked reporters from a local news station that is pro-China and pro-Blue:

Supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party yesterday broke the peace of the "Formosa Sunrise" rally by sabotaging one TV station's coverage of the event.

According to a witness, supporters of DPP lawmaker Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) jumped onto CTI station's stage and unplugged the network wire, causing the live coverage to be disconnected. Supporters then proceeded in trying to tear down the stage.

Wang's supporters also hurled insults at CIT's anchor and discouraged Wang from going through with an interview. The anchor was forced off the stage by protesters and sought refuge in a nearby police station for his safety, a witness said.

CTI called the incident the "the darkest day for the media."

ETV, another news station which DPP supporters consider China-friendly, evacuated their anchors and reporters to avoid any confrontation.

Lots of people are sick of the partisan pro-Blue slant of the broadcast media. The Taipei Times also reported attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators by anti-Chen demonstrators at the train station. But in the main no large-scale outbreaks of violence have occurred. Yet. The last time around, when the KMT hijacked the prostitute protests when Chen was mayor, they kept up the protests for 18 months. It will hard -- and expensive -- to keep crowds going that long. Will the anti-Chen protest go out with a whimper or a bang?

So far the winner has to be Mayor Ma Ying-jeou. Ma's lack of backbone and prior negative experience with involvement in protests has kept him from deep involvement in the anti-Chen campaign despite its pro-Blue origins, and the fact that they have stayed peaceful will be perceived as reflecting well on his administration's ability to keep a lid on things, and thus, reflecting well on him. He must be on tenterhooks, however, since Shih's grandstanding and increasingly wild statements -- the other day he compared the DPP to Mussolini and Hitler, and said that DPP supporters were soulless -- must give him the leaping heebie-jeebies.

Another winner is the DPP. The huge rally yesterday must have been a big and very pleasant surprise, even after taking into account the fact that some protesters were bused in. I haven't had a chance to talk to my own students yet, but I'm getting signals that locals are realizing that the extralegal activities of the Blues are hurting the stability of the island and threatening its democracy. The stock market hasn't taken a huge hit yet, though, but the general strike that Shih and his supporters have been floating trial balloons about isn't going to make any businessmen happy. People who think the Blues are pro-business or a stability party need to examine their assumptions -- time and again the Blues have opted for extralegal methods of pursuing their goals that impact the island's economy and stability. The KMT and its allies serve a radical pro-China ideology, whatever their personal beliefs (or lack of them) may be. The result is that the KMT is always willing to hack on the island's political stability for partisan gains.

James Soong? The wily Chairman of the PFP, self-appointed guardian of the Chiang family legacy, maybe-candidate for Taipei mayor....kept a low profile but appeared next to Shih. I can't see how this hurts him directly, so I'm chalking him up as a winner for the moment.

And Chen Shui-bian? Big winner. Prior to Shih's rally it was possible to claim that he had little or no support. Thanks to the counter-demonstration Shih provoked, it is clear that there is a deep vein of support for Taiwan's democracy, the Presidency and maybe even Chen himself. Thank you, Shih Ming-teh. Even in betrayal, you can still serve Taiwan. The large turnout yesterday will also give Chen all the more reason not to resign.

The big loser? Shih Ming-teh. His 15 minutes are just about finished. There is still plenty of grandiose mendacity left in him, and perhaps another neat-o stunt or two. But after his new friends are done with him and the women and money run out, what then?

UPDATE: Indiac has some links and comments on the protests:

My wife relates that an anchor on ETTV described the people at the rally as being comprised mostly of betel nut chewers, people with foul mouths, and others who came because they were paid or for free boxed lunches. (I should remind readers of the free massages said to be available at Shih Ming-teh's "sit-in.")

There's a reason why the partisan media gets its sorry ass kicked by pro-Green demonstrators....

[Taiwan] [Taipei] [Shih Ming-deh/Shih Ming-te] [James Soong] [Chen Shui-bian] [Democracy] [DPP] [Ma Ying-jeou]