The mobilization of tens of thousands against the cross-strait service trade agreement is “a grave” national matter that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) must face by holding a dialogue with the protesters to find a solution, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday.
Lee called on Ma to sit down with the student-led activists, who yesterday entered the fifth day of their occupation of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, to listen to what they have to say about the pact and understand what they want the government to do so they can end the protest and go home as soon as possible.
“This is a grave matter for the country and the president needs to take it seriously,” Lee said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Lee made the remarks in response to media inquiries about the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday sending the controversial pact to a plenary session even though it has not completed the committee-level stage of the review process.
The former president told reporters yesterday that he would have handled the protest movement differently than Ma has if he were still in charge.
During the Wild Lily (野百合學運) student movement in 1991 that culminated in legislative reforms, Lee met with the then-protest leaders on March 21 to listen to their views about political reform.
“People should not call the young people taking part in the pact protest ‘mobsters’ because they are voicing their views and they care about the country’s future,” Lee said.
He added that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had done the right thing by not attending a meeting on Friday that Ma called by evoking Article 44 of the Constitution to discuss the issue with Wang and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺).
“Ma was trying to shirk his responsibility to resolve the issue by passing it on to Wang,” Lee said.
Earlier yesterday, the Presidential Office said in a statement that Ma would not accept the protesters’ demand that he engage with them in a talk about the service trade pact.
The statement said Ma has always been willing to talk to groups representing all interests in a peaceful, rational manner, but that he found the students forcefully occupying the legislative chamber and then using the sit-in as leverage to demand a talk with the president to be unacceptable.
Ma had been scheduled to visit a business in Greater Tainan yesterday, as well as attend an annual event held by civic group Life Line International, but the appointments were canceled and he made no public appearances yesterday.
SCHEDULE: The delegation is due to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen this morning and witness the signing of an MOU on bilateral health cooperation in the afternoon US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar yesterday arrived in Taipei aboard a US government plane at the head of a delegation that is the highest-level visit by a US official since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979. Azar’s flight landed at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 4:48pm, nearly one hour earlier than scheduled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The apron where it landed is reserved for military aircraft, the Songshan Air Force Base Command said. The members of Azar’s delegation included HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, HHS Chief of Staff Brian
CHINESE FIGHTERS: Beijing marked the US Cabinet member’s visit by briefly sending two warplanes across the median line of the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in the highest-level official meeting between the two nations since 1979. “It is a true honor to be here to convey a message of strong support and friendship from [US] President [Donald] Trump to Taiwan,” Azar said during the open portion of his courtesy call to the Presidential Office, which was streamed live online before Tsai and Azar held a closed-door meeting. “Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 has been among the most successful in the world, and that is a tribute to the open, transparent,
‘CROSS-STRAIT CONSIDERATIONS’: Groups said that the Ministry of Education’s policies excluded Chinese and students should not be blocked over political issues The Taiwan International Student Movement yesterday said it would protest today outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei against a policy that excludes some Chinese students from returning to Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since June 17, the ministry has allowed foreign students from 19 “low risk” and “medium-low risk” countries and regions to enter Taiwan. On July 22, it announced that it was relaxing restrictions to include students from all countries and regions who are graduating this semester and on Wednesday it further expanded entry to students enrolled in degree programs. A letter sent by the ministry on Wednesday to universities did
PARTNERSHIP AND LEARNING: A Princeton University health policy researcher said that the nation would be a ‘treasure trove’ of information for the US health chief US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on Friday said he wants to learn about Taiwan’s “incredibly effective” response to COVID-19, even though the nation did things that the US has fumbled, such as having a unified strategy and citizens willing to wear masks. Azar leads a US delegation arriving today for a three-day visit to Taiwan. They are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and health system leaders, and Azar is to give a speech to public health graduates. “The message of this trip is about Taiwan,” Azar said in an interview, deflecting a question about China.
RSS