Taiwan Quiet Victories in Taipei

By EDWARD W. DESMOND

More than 20,000 policemen and soldiers were on hand for the demonstration, fearful that it would take a violent turn. In recent months, after all, one faction of Taiwan's increasingly active opposition movement has urged more confrontations to demand an end to 39 years of martial law. Wearing green headbands and carrying balloons with such slogans as LIFT MARTIAL LAW, RETURN TO THE CONSTITUTION, 3,000 vocal opposition supporters filled the plaza in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and listened to opposition leaders denounce the Kuomintang regime of President Chiang Ching-kuo, 77.

When the protesters marched down palm-lined Jen-Ai Road toward the Presidential Office Building, they discovered that rows of riot police had sealed the routes with barbed-wire barricades and water cannon. White-helmeted marshals among the marchers moved quickly to keep order. The demonstrators settled for more speeches and sang the opposition's rallying song, United for Taiwan. The police stayed back but blasted martial music from their own sound trucks to drown out the protesters.

In the end, last week's demonstration proved to be a victory for both the government and the Democratic Progressive Party, a technically illegal political organization founded last September. By avoiding a crackdown, Chiang preserved the appearance of a liberalization program that would lift martial law and legalize opposition parties. The D.P.P., for its part, bridged divisions in its ranks to stage the peaceful demonstration.

The goal was to protest the new national-security legislation that, according to the opposition, will all but duplicate martial law prohibitions -- in short, old wine in a new bottle. In an effort to build a consensus inside as well as outside the KMT, Chiang has permitted extensive discussion of the proposed law in the Legislative Yuan, in which the KMT holds 287 of 321 seats. The hard-line KMT members oppose softening martial law until Peking renounces its intent to bring Taiwan into the fold of the People's Republic -- by force if necessary.

The opposition, by contrast, argues that the security legislation contradicts the constitution and its guarantees of freedoms of speech, assembly, belief and movement. As evidence, it notes that the new law will continue the current ban on travel and on any opposition to the KMT's claim of sovereignty over all of China. Says Frank Hsieh, a D.P.P. member and Taipei city councilman: "Our principle is that when martial law is abolished, we should return to a full constitutional system."

While most Democratic Progressives share that belief, friction has arisen in the party on how the goal should be achieved. Last month party militants wanted to stage a demonstration outside the Presidential Office Building despite the risk of violent confrontation. At the last minute, the party's moderate wing, led by Legislative Yuan Member Kang Ning-hsiang, had the protest called off. Kang's followers are committed to a nonviolent, parliamentary path to power. While the two factions differ on such matters as how often to hold street protests, last week's demonstration was widely viewed as a sign of unity, at least for now. Said Hsieh: "It was a good compromise. I think the party has emerged in a stronger position."

With reporting by Donald Shapiro/Taipei