Radio Free Taiwan

Here are some photos I took at the 2004 Hand-in-Hand rally, which was mainly organized by the supporters of President Chen’s DPP political party. The event was meant to be a peaceful protest against China’s passage of an anti-seccession law aimed at preventing (circumventing) Taiwan’s independence. It certainly was peaceful. The crowd buzzed with optimism and good feeling, unlike the various pro-China pan-blue rallys that are characterized by an atmosphere of antagonism, aggression and rudeness.

Click the smaller images to see the full-sized pictures.

That’s me on the left. My roomates, Kevin and Mike are on the right. The toon in the middle is “A-Bian” - a caricature of Chen Shui-bian that helped him win his first election. He often refers to himself in the first person in speeches, saying things like, “A-Bian hopes the people of Taiwan will blah, blah, blah…”

That’s me, above. My quickly assembled flag device got a lot of attention. People seemed to like my One Taiwan slogan, and were intrigued by my associating the Tibet issue with Taiwan’s situation. One of the key reasons the Dalai Lama can’t visit Lhasa anymore is that he refuses to agree that Taiwan is part of China. Bless his loyalty to truth.