Why a month long march?

Michael Richardson of the Boston Examiner brought this video to my attention; it's a video of Su Beng at a roadside rest stop talking about the month long march from Heng Chun to Taipei, which has been posted on www.taiwanus.net.

Unfortunately the sound quality of the video clip is not very good and there is a lot of background noise from traffic going by. I will offer my best efforts of a translation highlighting the main points of what Su Beng has said in the video clip here:

Interviewer: Su Beng, excuse me could I trouble you in asking you some questions? How old are you this year?

SB: I am 92 years old.

Interviewer: Oh you are up there in age now. Now where did you going to start walking from?

SB: Heng Chun to Taipei.

Interviewer: That will take several days…

SB: A month.

[I've skipped translating some of the interviewer's comments and Su Beng's responses, which follow since they were unclear. What follows below is a summary of highlights of what Su Beng said in the rest of the video clip.]

Interviewer: Why are you walking?

SB: We are walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. Secondly, the Taiwanese people must be unified, have solidarity and bravely stand up to be their own masters, to build their own country.

Interviewer: What do you think are the future prospects of Taiwan/the Taiwanese building a new nation for Taiwan? What’s your hope for that? What are your opinions on that?

SB: Taiwan will be independent. The entire world will support Taiwan’s independence. The problem that the Taiwanese haven’t worked hard enough or bravely enough to build a new nation and that will delay the road to independence. What we should be most afraid of is, if China tries to take over Taiwan. If the Taiwanese people don’t work hard for their future, if you don’t fight for yourself then how could you expect the rest of the world support you? What’s important for Taiwan is that everyone must forcefully declare that Taiwan is not a part of the China. The Taiwanese have to say that Taiwan is not the same as China or the Republic of China; it is the Republic of Taiwan. We must prevent or stop China from taking over Taiwan. The Taiwanese people have not worked hard enough for themselves.

[Su Beng starts conversing with another person in the video here]

SB: The Taiwanese consist of Holo, and Hakka people, who are basically of Han ancestry, and some aboriginal people of Polynesian decent, but when the enemy comes, they will target all the people on the island. That the Taiwanese are still pulling each other’s legs is troubling.

We need to put things in black and white terms. Yes or no, right or wrong, it’s black and white. We need to be clear about what is right and wrong. People need to know right from wrong. There are universal standards.

Su Beng offers some opinions of the Roger Lin case:
[Note: If you'd like to know more about the Roger Lin case, click here]

SB: This is a political tool. Their chance of success with this may be low but any methods that move us towards Taiwan’s independence are good. This is a good method, but the most important thing is that the Taiwanese must stand in solidarity and fight for independence themselves.

To view and listen to the entire video clip for yourself, click on this link: http://www.taiwanus.net/news/press/2009/200904261324101594.htm