Politicians from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Party gathered yesterday at an event in Taipei where they lashed out at the student-led Sunflower movement, which had protested the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.
Former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) called the Sunflower movement a “coup d’etat,” saying that something characterized by riots and violence “did not deserve to be called a student movement.”
The Sunflower movement cannot be compared to the May 4th movement, when thousands of Chinese students protested on May 4, 1919, against the Treaty of Versailles’ acknowledgement of Japan’s territorial claims in China, Hau said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan has built up its democracy over 60 years, but the Sunflower movement now has it damaged beyond repair, Hau said.
New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) said that the way the students had behaved in leading the Sunflower movement was an “act of betrayal.”
Condemnation against the protesters is not enough, Yok said, adding that he demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and law enforcement authorities look into their legal responsibility in accordance with the law and “never treat them with leniency.”
KMT Deputy Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said he represented Ma — who serves as chairman of the party — at the event yesterday, which was held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the New Revolutionary Alliance (新同盟會).
Tseng said that the KMT had received many complaints condemning those who occupied the legislative chamber from March 18, stormed into the Executive Yuan complex on March 23 and besieged Taipei’s Zhongzheng First Police Precinct on April 11. The letters were also critical of the “irrational” hunger strike by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) against the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
It is easy to tell that opposition parties were behind the movements and that their aim was to “usurp” the government’s power, Tseng said.
The students and others who engaged in the civil disobedience movements deserved nothing but condemnation, he added.
Former Taipei EasyCard Corp (悠遊卡)chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), the KMT’s candidate for the upcoming Taipei mayoral election who also attended the event yesterday, said the spate of protests showed that “some people with ulterior motives” attributed the problems stifling Taiwan’s economic development to cross-strait relations and had managed to turn the dissatisfaction and frustration about the situation into forces that drove people to the streets.
“This is a new crisis facing the Republic of China,” Lien said.
Meanwhile, retired general Hsu Li-nong (許歷農), head of the New Revolutionary Alliance, called for Taiwan to sign an agreement with China that both sides of the Taiwan Strait be referred to as “China.”
The alliance, whose purpose is to push for unification, is planning to bring about the signing of the agreement, Hsu said.
In response, Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said: “As is often the case with a democracy, student movements are a form of social movement.”
“Throughout Taiwan’s democratization against the KMT’s authoritarian rule, Hau has blocked progress, but now he is posturing as a paragon of democracy,” Lin said. “This is an insult to Taiwanese.”
“Hau has shown a total lack of understanding about democracy or people’s rights to freedom of expression,” Lin said. “It reflects his antidemocratic, military character.”
Additional reporting by Chen Yen-ting
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS