Cablegate: Dpp 20th Anniversary -- Many Depart Before Chen Speaks

VZCZCXRO6313
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #3390 2750949
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 020949Z OCT 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2410
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5726
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 8082
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0410
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1424
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 5391
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 9589
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6938

UNCLAS TAIPEI 003390

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AIT/W, EAP/TC, INR/EAP

FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL TW
SUBJECT: DPP 20th Anniversary -- Many Depart Before Chen Speaks

REF: TAIPEI 3377

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

1. (SBU) On September 30, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) held a march and a rally in Kaohsiung City to celebrate the
party's twentieth anniversary. Although the parade route was
shortened to one kilometer from the original plan of holding the
parade throughout Kaohsiung City kilometers (reftel), it was the
activity that drew the largest crowds. Buses began arriving in
Kaohsiung from Ilan, Taitung, Pingtung and other points around the
island at mid-afternoon. Kaohsiung police announced 105,000 people
participated in the parade, though an AIT/K observer estimated the
number as high as 200,000 and event organizers claimed 350,000.
Almost 90% of participants appeared to AIT/K to be senior citizens
who had been bused in to the site. Only two isolated instances of
an anti-Chen nature perpetrated by lone individuals were televised
during the more than three hours of live press coverage of the
anniversary activities.

2. (SBU) Following the short, but lively, march, buses began
loading and departing Kaohsiung about six p.m., more than a full
hour before the speech by President Chen Shui-bian. By the time the
president took the stage to speak, the crowds had dwindled
significantly to an estimated 20,000 (gauged by AIT/K staff). Even
a few Kaohsiung DPP city council members departed the site prior to
the President's speech. One later told AIT/K that she had to attend
Moon Festival activities in her district.

3. (SBU) President Chen's speech held no surprises, but reiterated
his earlier stated pledges to work toward a new constitution that
"corresponds to the current situation," to join the United Nations
under the name of "Taiwan," and to hold a referendum calling for
recovery of the KMT's "stolen assets." He also expressed his strong
hope that the DPP would win the December 2006 Kaohsiung and Taipei
mayoral elections, elect fifty legislators (out of 113) in the
December 2007 legislative elections, and win the presidential
election in March 2008. AIT/K staff heard rally attendees express
surprise that, although all top DPP leaders, including Premier Su
Tseng-chang, Chairman Yu Shy-kun, and Taipei mayoral candidate Frank

SIPDIS
Hsieh spoke at the rally, Vice-President Annette Lu offered no
comments at the event. Almost all speeches were given exclusively
in Taiwanese, except for a few slogans rendered in Mandarin. Of the
top leaders who spoke, only Chairman Yu mentioned the need to
support the current DPP administration. Others never even alluded
to the presidential office or its incumbent.

4. (SBU) As reported in the October 1 Taipei Times (English
edition), Kaohsiung police said more than 2,700 police were
stationed along the parade route and at the rally and that 200
barbed-wire barricades were erected. An AIT/K staff member learned
from police at the events, that Tainan police had joined with
Kaohsiung city and county police to cover the event. In addition,
some police from Taichung (central Taiwan) were also present to lend
assistance.

THIELE

WANG

© Scoop Media