At rally, TPP accuses DPP of 'bounced check' to Taiwanese people

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) on Sunday rallied its supporters in front of the Taipei headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which it accused of betraying the trust of the Taiwanese people over its last eight years in power.

The crowd, mostly clad in the TPP's trademark white and holding aloft 2,000 guavas distributed by organizers, gathered in front of the DPP's offices on Beiping East Road, while other activists, including the pro-independence Taiwan Republic (台灣國) group, held a counter-protest at the nearby Huashan Creative Park.

The guava was used as a pun on a Hokkien term for a bounced check, symbolizing what the TPP characterized as the DPP's broken promises to the public.

Addressing the rally, TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the DPP had failed to implement important constitutional, legislative and media reforms, despite holding the presidency and a majority in the Legislature since 2016.

Over the past three months, the DPP did not reach out for talks on the TPP's legislative reform proposals, and instead attacked the TPP and demanded that it support the DPP's own reform plan, Ko said.

The proposals put forth by the TPP and Kuomintang -- which sparked a day of scuffles in the Legislature when the parties tried to advance them on Friday -- would require the president to deliver an annual address to and take questions from lawmakers.

They would also expand the Legislature's investigative powers and allow it to fine or hold in "contempt of the Legislature" people or entities who do not comply with an investigative inquiry.

Ko warned that "if a one-party authoritarian state reemerges [in Taiwan], revolution would be a duty."

The TPP took to the streets because we do not want to see that happen, Ko said, adding that he hoped the DPP would rediscover its "humility."

In the meantime, the TPP will continue working to realize the values of "diligence, honesty and love of the land" once claimed by the DPP, and to see through the reforms it has proposed, he said.

Meanwhile, TPP lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) referenced Friday's violence in the Legislature in remarks aimed at DPP Chairman Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who will be inaugurated as president on Monday.

"Is this how the DPP is going to unite Taiwan?" he asked.