A group of presidents from 52 universities on Friday issued a joint statement calling on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to respond to student-led protesters’ demands as the standoff between them and the Ma administration over the cross-strait trade service pact continued.
In the statement, the 52-member Associations of National Universities of Taiwan urged Ma to engage in student protest leaders organizing a sit-in at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei in dialogue as soon as possible to defuse the row.
Association director-general Yang Hung-duen (楊弘敦), who heads National Sun Yat-sen University, said that while the president should face up to the protest and talk to the students, the latter also need to remain rational and calm while making their concerns heard.
The Association of National Universities of Science and Technology and the Association of Private Universities and Colleges of Technology also voiced their support for the anti-service trade pact activists, with National Taipei University of Technology President Yao Leeh-ter (姚立德) saying that students’ passion and concerns have been expressed clearly and he believes the Legislative and Executive yuans would reassess the possibility of renegotiating the agreement with China.
However, Yao also asked the students to return to their classrooms and give the legislative floor back to the lawmakers, saying that restoring the operation of the democratic institution it is ultimately the best course of action.
The associations’ statements were followed by another issued by National Taiwan University’s Math Department that also urged the head of state to hold a summit with the students, but was unequivocally supportive of the legislative occupation.
As of the time of its issuance, 25 of the 34 math professors at the National Taiwan University department had signed the statement declaring their support for the protesting students, it said.
The statement added that the professors stand with the students and the public, and support their right to oversee the government and the legitimacy of the demonstrators’ actions.
“We are not against the signing of the service trade agreement per se, since we do live in a world being swept by globalization, but the signing and review processes must be transparent and executed with due process. This is why we support what the students are demanding, which is rejecting any agreement signed ‘in a black box,’” it said.
The professors emphasized that the younger generation are the ones who will be most affected by the pact, so they have the right to voice concerns about, question and supervise how it is singed.
The statement also slammed remarks made earlier by a high-ranking Ministry of Economic Affairs official, who described the agreement as “beneficial to the students because after its implementation, they can work in China and earn NT$52,000 a month, rather than [the] NT$22,000 [they would make in Taiwan].”
“Is sending our educated youth to China for work the government’s only solution for the nation’s low wage and wealth gap problems?” the math academics asked.
Also expressing its unwavering supportive of the students was the National Alliance of Parents Organization, which issued a statement yesterday afternoon calling for dialogue and praising the students’ civic consciousness.
The alliance said that it is deeply worried about the students’ safety, but at the same time “immensely proud” of them.
“The government said you have been instigated to commit ‘irrational violence’ ... but we know that you are autonomous and exercising your civic consciousness. What the students are protesting against is the retreat of democracy forced by a legislative body no longer representing people’s will,” it said.
“Our parents were worried when we stood up against authoritarian rule 30 years ago… Today, we as parents also worry that the protesters’ safety might be at risk. So we demand that the government start a dialogue with the protestors soon and promise that it will not use force to evict the students from the legislature, as well as acquiesce to the demonstrators’ requests for just, democratic procedures,” the parental alliance said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying