In a show of solidarity with Taiwan, a massive rolling screen bearing the words “Stand Strong With Taiwan” appeared on the large screens at Times Square in Manhattan, New York on June 4th. Nearly five hundred overseas Taiwanese attended the event, loudly chanting “Taiwan, Add Oil” in support.
Since May 24th, when around 100,000 people flooded Qingdao East Road in Taipei, opposing a bill that would expand the powers of the parliament and the offense of contempt for the parliament, hundreds of overseas Taiwanese took inspiration from the Qingdao protests and self-established the “Overseas Qing Bird Support Group.”
Within just 3 hours, the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group raised over $80,000 online, allowing them to display images of Taiwan’s democratic spirit every 5 minutes for 24 hours at the crossroads of the world – Times Square – to show their support for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.
Media contact person Xie Kaiting, during an interview at Times Square, expressed that the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group successfully built international connections and crowdfunded online within a week. “We hope to show our determination to support Taiwan’s democracy at the first overseas spot in New York’s Times Square,” she said.
The themes of the images projected at Times Square by the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group included “beacon of democracy,” “fortress of equality,” “land of thriving freedom,” “booming innovation,” and “Stand Strong With Taiwan,” featuring visuals of voting rights, the iconic 101 Building, bubble tea, rainbow flags, Qing Birds, and more.
The projection at Times Square by the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group ran from midnight on Tuesday to midnight on Wednesday, with over 500 estimated attendees responding to the event. Jiang Junlin, the former joint chairman of the North American Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce, expressed his support for Taiwan’s democracy, stating, “Taiwan’s democracy and freedom are hard-won, and I stand with and support them.” He further emphasized the importance of showcasing Taiwan’s valuable democracy and freedom to the world.
Lawyer Hsu Jiacheng stated, “The parliament represents democracy and should reflect Taiwan’s mainstream public opinion, but this time the opposition party in Taiwan forced through laws violating human rights by abusing legislative procedures, which I find highly inappropriate. This not only undermines the functioning of the Taiwanese parliament but also raises doubts in the international community about whether Taiwan’s parliament is capable of upholding democracy.”
Specializing in business law, Hsu Jiacheng pointed out that the current democratic deficiencies have caught the attention of many mainstream international media outlets, with potential repercussions. “On the one hand, the international community may question Taiwan’s future willingness to stand with the camp of democracy and freedom, and on the other hand, overseas potential investors may adopt a cautious approach towards investing in Taiwan.”
Following the second reading of the contempt for the parliament bill on May 27th in Taiwan, overseas Taiwanese students who felt deficiencies in the legislative process also wanted to show their support through action. Lin Yizheng, a post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University Medical School, was among them. He mentioned that many international students, like him, spontaneously participated after learning about the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group’s activities at Times Square.
“In supporting Taiwan overseas, we also lend our voices to June Fourth,” Lin Yizheng said. “The contempt for the parliament bill lacks specificity, and it gives me a sense that this situation is somewhat similar to Hong Kong. They (Hong Kong) passed some ambiguous laws that criminalize people. So I vaguely feel like we are going through a process similar to what happened in Hong Kong.”
Translator and stand-up comedian Vickie Wang was responsible for the English text of the event and expressed concerns about the expansion of parliamentary powers, saying, “Taiwan’s young, diverse, yet fragile democracy seems to be regressing.”
Interestingly, the day of the Overseas Qing Bird Support Group’s projection at Times Square coincided with the 35th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident. The Chinese Communist Party allowed the military and armed police to crackdown on students expressing democratic and freedom demands at Tiananmen Square, resulting in a bloody suppression. According to the Hong Kong Public Daily, the death toll of the June Fourth Incident exceeded two thousand, with over thirty thousand injured. Hong Kong has commemorated June Fourth over the years with candlelight vigils in Victoria Park until the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill movement ended due to the enactment of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.
Miss Wu, a 20-year-old student from Hong Kong currently studying in New York, highlighted that, following the events of 2019, Hong Kong has lost its freedom of speech and the right to protest against government policies within five years. “If we do not come out to support the people of Taiwan now, when China invades Taiwan, it will be irreversible, and the world will be threatened by communism,” she said.