President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will leave for Hsinchu City this afternoon, just as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is to hold a large-scale rally against his policies in front of the Presidential Office.
In the morning, Ma will attend a job fair in Taipei organized by the Taipei City Government, which Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) will also attend. Ma will travel to Hsinchu Science Park in the afternoon.
The Presidential Office said it would station officials at the building and meet protesters if they have any requests during the rally.
In an interview with TVBS aired on Friday night, Ma said he was confident police would handle today’s protest “with the appropriate approach,” adding that he expected the rally and the sit-in protest following it to end peacefully.
Ma also promised to make changes to the government’s proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), which critics say could undermine freedom of assembly.
Ma said that for the sake of public safety, it was crucial that protesters inform the authorities of their plans to hold a rally.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said last week that the Taipei City Government had loosened its regulations and would issue a road permit to any group that applies for permission to hold a rally.
Commenting on DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) criticism of the city government’s repeated calls on the party to apply for permission to occupy Ketagalan Boulevard tomorrow, Hau said the public would reach its own conclusions on the matter.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS