Several dozen protesters gathered outside the Grand Hyatt New York on Sunday night where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was hosting a private dinner during a brief stopover in the metropolis while en route to Paraguay.
The dinner was attended by members of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) and Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang (蔡國強).
Protest convener Lai Hong-tien (賴宏典), a dentist in the Manhattan area, said he had been unaware of Ma’s visit until Friday, adding that the rally had been hastily organized by a small number of people.
Photo: Nadia Tsao, Taipei Times
“We hadn’t expected to gather such a crowd,” Lai said, adding that he and his fellow organizers had told police that about 15 people would attend.
The protesters held banners and signs bearing messages such as: “Stop selling out Taiwan,” “Cease the oppression of human rights,” as well as other more politically charged messages such as “Tear Down Dapu [Borough (大埔)] today, we’ll overthrow the government tomorrow,” “Halt the construction of the Longmen [Fourth] Nuclear Power Plant,” “Truth in the Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) incident,” and a call for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Lai said that most overseas Taiwanese are unhappy with how Ma is governing the nation, believing him to be deceitful, adding that they are especially worried about the cross-strait trade service agreement, which many see as an acceleration of Ma’s attempt to “sell out Taiwan.”
Despite the unexpected turnout, the New York Police Department officers monitoring the demonstration did not intervene and allowed the protest to continue.
Lai also criticized the Ma administration’s policy of pursuing a diplomatic detente with China.
“I don’t know what Ma’s is afraid of,” Lai said, referring to what he sees as Ma’s avoidance of Taiwanese organizations in lieu of close dealings with China-oriented organizations in the US.
Since the Ma administration assumed power, it has never engaged “true Taiwanese,” Lai said, adding that in contrast to how the Chen administration helped give Taiwan an international voice and highlight its diplomatic situation, the nation has been silenced under Ma’s reign.
Lai also panned Ma’s planned visit to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association branch in New York’s Chinatown.
“There are no Taiwanese [in the association],” and it could be said that the entire association has nothing to do with Taiwan, Lai said. “It seems that only Chinese know of Ma’s itinerary.”
This was yet another example of how Ma only liaises with China-centric organizations and completely failing to contact any “real Taiwanese” compatriots, Lai said.
The association was founded in 1883 and was one of the earliest Chinese groups in the US.
Ma was in New York on a transit stop en route to a five-nation diplomatic tour that will cover Paraguay and Taiwan’s four allies in the Caribbean.
He was greeted by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt and Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.
While in New York, Ma will meet US Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, and ranking committee member Eliot Engel
He is also scheduled to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the city and New York University, where he once studied.
He will stay in the city until tomorrow, before heading to Haiti, the first stop of the tour.
From Haiti he will fly to Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Additional reporting by CNA
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS