Dressed in a green and white "Taiwan for the U.N." T-shirt, the president declared he was "moved and appreciative" that "so many people participated in this rally" and added that "I believe everyone is more and more confident."

The president then received loud a "yes" in response to each of the three questions he asked concerning whether the audience supported Taiwan's entry into the United Nations, whether they supported the use of the name of 'Taiwan' to enter the U.N. and whether they supported the use of the mechanism of a referendum to "express the resolution and desire of the 23 million people of Taiwan to enter the U.N. under the name 'Taiwan.'"

Despite criticism from senior United States officials as well as opposition from China, Chen defended his support for the Democratic Progressive Party campaign to secure a place on the ballot for a referendum on whether to use the name of Taiwan to apply for U.N. membership concurrently with the March 22 presidential election.

Chen called on the rally participants to remember that the event was "only the beginning of a process" and urged supporters to gain signatures for the petition from family, friends and colleagues so that the petition can top the legal requirement of 837,000 signatures to reach "1.5 million or even two million" by the end of October.

According to DPP sources, over 500,000 signatures have been collected.

Moreover, Chen called on the hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered at the Kaohsiung assembly and the several thousand who took part in a simultaneous rally in New York City to remember that the most important part of what he described as "the struggle of a lifetime" was to vote in the referendum ballot.

The president noted that the "birdcage" Referendum Law approved by the former ruling Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan in November 2003 set a high threshold of at least 50 percent support with a 50 percent turnout of the eligible electorate, or at least eight million votes, and the election of the DPP presidential and vice president ticket of Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).

Affirming that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, Chen also criticized the KMT's proposed referendum on "re-entry" into the U.N. using the "Republic of China" name, since the then-KMT ruled R.O.C. had been supplanted by China in the U.N. in October 1971, Chen added that KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) advocacy of "re-entry" was "an attempt to deceive the people."

In a powerful speech favoring the refernedum drive, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh lauded the resolution of the tens of thousands of supporters for "manifesting our resolution" to join the U.N. by marching under the hot sun and stated that "loving Taiwan is not loving Taiwan's money or votes but identifying with Taiwan's difficult history and standing by Taiwan to gain justice."

Hsieh related that the insistence of former KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to maintain the myth that his KMT regime was the "sole legitimate government of China" led Chiang to refuse offers for dual representation and ultimately led to the expulsion of the "Chiang Kai-shek representatives" and the granting of the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council seats for "China" to the PRC.

"Chiang Kai-shek's selfishness has kept us out of the United Nations for 36 years," said Hsieh, who declared "in the past the KMT decided our fate, but now the people of Taiwan have stood up and will not allow the KMT to determine our national destiny."

Nevertheless, Hsieh said he was "pleased" that the KMT had initiated its own referendum, even if it was for the "impractical" goal of "re-entry" into the U.N., and urged Ma to join with the DPP in a "new patriotic movement" to help win international support for Taiwan's U.N. bid.

Saying that the world community has decided that "the R.O.C. is not a country," Hsieh asked, "why don't you give Taiwan a chance to be a country?"

"To protect Taiwan is the basic obligation of a national leader and I promise my life to protect Taiwan," the DPP candidate declared.