Without any positive response from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to their demands, student activists occupying the legislative floor yesterday said that they would organize a demonstration on Sunday in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei to increase the pressure on the president.
They said they may continue their occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s chamber as well.
“We have been here for 10 days, yet the president has not responded to us. If he thinks that we will eventually give up and walk out of the legislative chamber on our own, I want to tell him that he is wrong,” student leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) told an afternoon news conference outside the legislative chamber.
Photo: Sam Yen, AFP
“Instead of giving up, we would like to invite all citizens, regardless of their age or who they are, to join our rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building at 1pm on Sunday,” he said.
“If you are taking part in rallies or strikes elsewhere in the country, please come to Taipei on Sunday. We will show the government that it cannot weaken our spirit, rather as time goes by, we will only become stronger and more determined,” Lin said. “We may be physically tired, but we are mentally strong.”
The plan is to end the rally at 7pm, with the crowd returning to the Legislative Yuan afterward, “but if we have enough people to fill the area all the way from the legislature to the Presidential Office Building, we do not need to return,” he said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Lin urged those who plan to participate in the rally to wear black to symbolize that the government’s actions are returning Taiwan to the dark ages.
Another student leader, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), urged all those who are still hesitating about whether to act, or those who have previously participated in the protests, but had left for personal reasons, to come back on Sunday.
“Our goal is to fill Zhongshan South Road in front of the Legislative Yuan all the way to Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building,” he said.
Lin stressed that the objective of the movement is to pressure the government to withdraw the cross-strait service trade agreement, to pass a bill to monitor all cross-strait negotiations and to hold a citizens’ constitutional conference, while also urging lawmakers across party lines to refrain from reviewing the trade agreement before the legislation is adopted.
Lin had hinted at a way to end the standoff, saying that as soon as all the ruling and opposition party legislators submit written pledges committing to the early passage of a new law aimed at institutionalizing a close scrutiny of all agreements with China, the protesters would prepare to evacuate the Legislative Yuan.
However, the proposal was rejected by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), with KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) saying that party lawmakers will not sign such a pledge because a review of the service trade agreement should not be tied to the issue of legislation for an oversight mechanism on cross-strait negotiations.
The KMT caucus does not understand the students’ demands because different appeals have been made over the past few days, but it would like to hear what they have to say, Lin Hung-chih said.
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) called the students “spoiled children,” and said they should have a debate with Ma on issues related to the service trade agreement.
If the students are not willing to face Ma in a debate, then “please get out of the Legislative Yuan,” he said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he