This past Sunday (3/13) there was a gathering near the Kaohsiung Cultural Center to support Ukraine as it is still being invaded by Russia. The event organized by the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan Statebulding Party (台灣基進). Many of the party’s candidates for Kaohsiung City Council attended the event.
As the event began a Ukrainian man was giving a speech in front of a few camera people. He discussed his thoughts on the crisis in Ukraine and related the actions of Russia to what China has promised to do to Taiwan.
After this initial speech, most of those in attendance took their seats on the ground to watch other speakers. One such speaker was a man from Singapore who came down from the North when he heard about the event. He talked about how glad he was to be in Taiwan, being that in Singapore he would not be able to attend such an event. He also discussed Singapore being an authoritarian nation, like Russia and China, and told listeners that democratic nations must stick together.
Next began a few rounds of TPP candidates. One such candidate was Yang Pei-hua (楊佩樺), a candidate for Kaohsiung City Council. She discussed why Taiwan should stand with Ukraine and how Taiwan needs to prepare for the potential of a Chinese invasion. She also discusses the need for democratic nations to stand together.
Chang Po-yang (張博洋), also a candidate for Kaohsiung City Council, gave his thoughts on what Taiwan is doing to help Ukraine and how the situation in Ukraine has parallels with Taiwan.
A third TSP candidate for Kaohsiung City Council, Huang Jing-ya (黃敬雅) explained why Taiwan should support Ukraine, the need to be prepared and fight back. Huang also related this to her own story of when she was the only crew member to survive a TransAsia Airlines crash back in 2015.
After the same Ukrainian man spoke again, this time in front of the crowd, He spoke about what is happening in Ukraine and some of the parallels he sees between Russia and China and what he believes Taiwan should do.
After this, the microphone was open to anyone that wanted to talk. A few members of the crowd came up to give brief speeches, including one man who told about his friend in Ukraine that narrowly escaped. He also talked about his pain and heartache watching innocent civilians, including children, be senselessly murdered by the Russian military.
At the end everyone sat together and chanted “Peace in Ukraine, all Taiwan supports you!” (和平烏克蘭,全台齊聲援) while reporters took pictures and video.
This rally happened on the same day that Taipei saw hundreds take to the street to support those in Ukraine. As the invasion continues it is likely we will see many more protests throughout Taiwan in support of those in Ukraine.