Both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday issued statements marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The KMT called on China not to allow history to repeat itself while the DPP urged the Chinese authorities to apologize for the massacre and readdress the miscarriage of justice surrounding the event.
The Tiananmen Square Massacre was an unfortunate event, KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said. Following China’s social and economic development these past 20 years, it should not let history repeat itself, he said.
Freedom and human rights, democracy, and law and order are universal values as well as the common goals pursued by both side of the Taiwan Strait amid the normalization of cross-strait relations, Lee said.
“Cross-strait development and a win-win situation in economic cooperation are the what we are working toward,” Lee said. “An open society tolerates different voices to serve as the foundation for a harmonic society and stimulate society’s progress and the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”
When asked for comment, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday expressed approval for China’s progress in that regard over the past 20 years.
Meanwhile, the DPP said the Chinese government should offer an apology and compensation to the victims of the massacre. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should ask China to release Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and other activists and include human rights issues in cross-strait talks, the DPP said.
DPP spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said Ma used to deliver long essays to commemorate the massacre, but he had become silent once he became president.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-hui (黃昆輝) also asked Ma to stand on the side of conscience and justice and speak for the people of China.
“If he [Ma] really considers himself Chinese, he should not just deal with the Chinese Communist Party and ignore the interests of the Chinese people,” Huang said. “June 4 will be a perfect testing ground to see if Ma is simply succumbing to the Chinese government.”
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner