Branding the student-led protesters’ occupation of the legislature “illegal,” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged the activists to end their sit-in, while calling for a legislative review of the cross-strait services trade pact that sparked the protest to be conducted as soon as possible.
At an international news conference in the Presidential Office Building, Ma urged the protesters who have been occupying the chamber of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei since Tuesday last week to leave so legislative operations can resume.
This was the first time the president has spoken publicly about the “Occupy Taiwan Legislature Movement.”
Stressing that the services trade pact is crucial to economic development, Ma said he hoped lawmakers across party lines would reach a consensus on reviewing the agreement clause-by-clause soon.
“I tell you once again, with a responsible attitude, that this is completely for the sake of Taiwan’s economic future,” said Ma, who has presided over the signing of a series of trade and economic agreements with China since he first assumed the presidency in 2008.
Ma, who is also Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, expressed hope that the legislative review of the agreement would be completed soon, adding that the KMT and opposition parties have agreed to inspect the pact clause-by-clause.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is seeking a consensus between the warring sides, but a key sticking point preventing the pact’s smooth review is the KMT’s insistence that the procedure be carried out in plenary sessions and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) refusal to do so.
The DPP has scheduled a joint session of eight legislative committees to review the agreement today.
The protest movement was sparked by a chaotic joint committee session on Monday last week presided over by KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), who is coconvener of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
At the meeting, Chang grabbed a microphone to announce the beginning of the session and then said that the pact — which he termed “an executive order” — had passed its review and would be sent to the legislative floor for consideration.
Chang then adjourned the meeting, catching opposition lawmakers by surprise.
The KMT lawmaker’s move was followed by a rally that evolved into the storming of the legislature and subsequent occupation of its main chamber the next day.
Since then, the movement has gathered momentum, with thousands staging a peaceful sit-in outside the Legislative Yuan complex to support those locked inside.
Student protesters broke into the building because they were dissatisfied with the legislative procedure, but their “illegal” action has paralyzed the legislature for five days, which has seriously affected the operation of the executive and legislative branches, Ma said.
“Let us calm down and think carefully. Is this the democracy we want? Do we have to do things in this way? Risking the rule of law?” he asked. “As the president of the Republic of China, I have to insist on maintaining the rule of law while safeguarding democracy. This is the fundamental and unswerving position of the government.”
Ma also flatly rejected the protesters’ demand that the trade pact be withdrawn from the legislature.
“Even the opposition parties did not ask for a withdrawal of the pact, they just want an article-by-article review of it,” he said.
The president said the KMT’s caucus supports the opposition’s proposal on reviewing the pact and “they should work together in this way to solve the matter.”
Asked if he will talk to the student protesters face-to-face as they are asking, Ma said he was afraid it would be “meaningless,” citing Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) attempt to talk to the activists on Saturday, which failed to yield any progress after Jiang refused to meet the protesters’ preconditions for dialogue.
Ma also denied that his government has been under pressure from China to push the pact through the legislature as quickly as possible.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS