One of the leaders of protesters occupying the legislative chamber said the students could not at this time accept an invitation from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who had, seven days into the occupation, finally agreed to meet with representatives from the group.
Protest leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) confirmed that the group received a call on Tuesday from Presidential Office spokeswoman Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏), who delivered an invitation for student representatives to talk with the president in the Presidential Office, but Lin said that the protesters were not ready to accept it.
Lin and the activists had initially planned to accept the invitation, but upon hearing that during a cross-party negotiation in the afternoon, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers had refused to allow the cross-strait service trade agreement to be returned to the Internal Administrative Committee for review, the students changed their mind about meeting with Ma.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“We’re worried that the president is being duplicitous,” Lin told a press conference held on the legislative floor.
“He pretends to be open-minded and willing to talk with us on one hand, but he asked KMT lawmakers to block a review of the trade pact,” Lin said.
“Until Ma promises that KMT legislators will not boycott a renewed review of the agreement, we will not agree to talk with him,” the student leader added.
He added that the talk should involve other social groups and should be held in public, such as on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Lee said the president still expects to speak with the students under no preconditions and that the Presidential Office would agree to allow media participation in the meeting.
“It looks like, at the moment, the students have yet to reach a consensus among themselves, and we will wait until they are ready to respond to our invitation,” she said.
“We will try our best to arrange a meeting with the student activists,” she added.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
RSS