Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) Thousands of Taiwanese rallied in a parade in Panchiao, Taipei County Saturday to oppose persecution in China and voice support for a movement urging Chinese to withdraw membership from the Communist Party of China (CPC).
"In two years, almost 16 million Chinese people have submitted statements withdrawing from the CPC or its affiliated organizations. The numbers show the Chinese have spurned the CPC because of its severe persecution inside China and repeated violations of human rights," said Lee Ching-mei, a parade spokeswoman.
During the rally, Falun Gong members carried out an exercise that uses five meditations, and something the Chinese government deems an illegal activity.
The parade was the second time a massive Taiwan rally was organized in support of the secession movement since Epochtimes, a Falun Gong affiliation newspaper, published "Nine Commentaries on the CPC" and launched the movement in 2004, Lee said.
Braving the cold air and light rain, participants held cardboard and banners with anti-CPC slogans, which included "CPC is not China," "Oppose organ harvesting," "Support Chinese human rights activists," and "A democratic China will not exist before the elimination of the CPC."
History shows in Russia, more than 4.2 million members withdrew from the Communist Party before the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991. And the CPC may collapse as well, with the secession movement gaining steam, said Li Dayong, who works for the Global Service Center for Quitting CCP.
Li said most people don't realize that behind all the rapid economic growth and development of big cities, the Chinese government has illegally kidnapped and detained dissidents, writers and reporters, suppressed Falun Gong members, and ignored the problems of corruption, discontinued education, unemployment and an ineffective health care system, among many other areas.