Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday defended the bloody crackdown on student protesters occupying the Executive Yuan from Sunday evening through early Monday morning as a necessary measure, while rejecting the protesters’ call to withdraw the cross-strait service trade pact or suspend its review until legislation to monitor cross-strait agreements is set up.
While expressing regret over the injuries suffered by both protesters and police, Jiang defended the police action as “necessary.”
“As the protesters were trying to take over the Executive Yuan, we had to ask the police to take harsh measures to disperse them. Officers and protesters were injured and, according to data provided by the National Police Agency, a total of 174 officers and protesters were injured, with more officers than protesters being hurt,” Jiang told a press conference at the Executive Yuan yesterday morning.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“I would like to express my deep regret about the protest that got out of control, and the ensuing forced eviction, which was necessary,” he said.
The premier said he was open to the idea of setting up legislation that would monitor cross-strait agreements, but he would not withdraw the service trade agreement from the legislature or suspend its legislative review.
Responding to Jiang’s comments, a representative of the student protests, Shih I-lun (施懿倫), said the premier’s remarks were “meaningless” and “insincere.”
Photo: CNA
“Jiang has been making similar meaningless comments for a week, since he came to the Legislative Yuan on Saturday [to talk to the protesters]. It doesn’t make any sense to me when he says that he supports legislation to monitor cross-strait agreements, but also says that the service trade pact should not be monitored by the law,” Shih said.
As for Jiang’s defense of the violent crackdown, Shih said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Jiang should take full responsibility for the incident.
“The occupation was largely peaceful, with demonstrators staging a sit-in, chanting slogans. Violence only broke out when police, following Jiang’s order, starting the heavy crackdown on peaceful demonstrators,” Shih said.
Photo: Sung Hsiao-hai, Taipei Times
Jiang held the press conference after the student-led occupation movement earlier called on the public to attend an open-ended rally in front of the Presidential Office tomorrow afternoon.
According to Taipei City Zhongzheng First Precinct Police Chief Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧), the event organizers have applied for a permit for a rally of 100,000 people and the application has been approved. However, participants are required to disperse by midnight, he added.
Meanwhile, although a number of images, video clips and witness accounts have surfaced about police officers beating up protesters and reporters with batons and shields, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Chun-ching (陳純敬) and National Police Agency Deputy Director-General Tsai Chun-chang (蔡俊章) insisted yesterday that the police “gently” removed protesters occupying the Executive Yuan.
“It is true that 55 protesters were wounded, but the injuries were caused by the pulling and shoving that occurred when they resisted officers’ attempts to remove them,” Tsai said.
Asked about reports of police forcing reporters to leave and beating them, Chen said they asked members of the media to leave to protect them.
“If there is evidence that the police attacked reporters, we will launch an investigation,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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