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Taiwan's ruling party rallies to protest threats from rival China

TAIPEI: Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said Saturday that communist China will never determine the future of this democratic island, as more than 50,000 supporters marched through Taipei in defiance of mainland threats to force Taiwan to unify. Chen's remarks to a festive, flag-waving crowd came only a week after supporters of the opposition Nationalist Party rallied in the same Taipei plaza accusing the president of stoking tensions across the volatile Taiwan Strait. "Our future will never be decided by the 1.3 billion people of China," Chen told his supporters in the sun-drenched square in front of the presidential office building. "We are totally against unification. Our future will only be decided by the 23 million people of Taiwan." Earlier this month, Chen provoked Chinese outrage by scrapping a government body dedicating to unifying the rivals. Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. Since then, Beijing has insisted that the island must eventually unify with the mainland or be punished with a Chinese attack. Chen's speech capped a jubilant, three-hour march through the streets of Taipei, with supporters waving banners and shouting slogans in favor of Chen, and against the Chinese threat. DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun said the march was meant to attract the world's attention to China's posture on Taiwan, which includes more than 700 missiles aimed at the island. "If we don't take to the streets and tell the world about the threats from China, nobody will know about Taiwan's plight," Yu said. Along the route of the march, a flatbed truck carried a large globe surrounded by red-colored missiles bearing China's red flag with five gold stars. The crowd carried banners that said, "No Aggression, Protect Taiwan" and "We Want Democracy, We Want Human Rights," as marshals led them in chanting anti-China slogans. ap

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