Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Protesters from around the country yesterday converged in Greater Kaohsiung, the first stop of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) first trip to southern Taiwan, for a second day of protest.

Small groups of rowdy demonstrators streamed into key venues throughout Chen’s visit, including E-DA World, the tourist complex where Chen was staying and had lunch with local Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians and business executives.

The “Jasmine Revolution” is rolling over North Africa: first Tunisia, then Egypt and now Libya. Oppressed people are suddenly seeing that entrenched regimes are not forever, and are taking to the streets, giving people power new meaning.

However, it is having worldwide repercussions: Restlessness and unrest has not been confined to neighboring countries such as Bahrain, Yemen and Syria. This weekend, pro-democracy activists in China attempted to spread the word on the Jasmine Revolution, leading to an unprecedented crackdown by security forces, and an almost total clampdown on the Internet. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party politburo reportedly met to discuss measures to prevent the news of what is happening in North Africa from spreading in China.