Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday leveled indirect criticism at the students who took part in the Sunflower movement, insinuating that they are people who “complain all day long about the government” and “blame others for their failures.”
Jiang made the comments as he addressed members of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce at a breakfast meeting, telling the business leaders about his recent encounters with young entrepreneurs in various fields, such as information, communication, technology and agriculture.
“[In the entrepreneurs] I saw the future of Taiwan and the forces that drive its economic development. I didn’t consider them to be uncompetitive as they are portrayed in the media and didn’t hear them grumbling about the government,” Jiang said. “Aside from the students who protested in the [Sunflower] movement, there are young people in every corner of the country who are full of ideas and energy, who want to go on adventures and make their endeavors successful, just like every one of you.”
Photo: CNA
“They do not complain about the government all day. They are not like the young people [in the Sunflower movement] who blame others for their failure,” the premier added.
Jiang said the young businesspeople he met gave him hope for the country’s future and led him to realize that he has the responsibility to help Taiwan’s youth make their dreams come true and, in doing so, lay a solid foundation for the nation’s continued progress.
The Sunflower movement was sparked on March 18 by a student-led occupation of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait trade service agreement. It ended on April 10 when the activists voluntarily exited the legislative chamber.
Sunflower movement leaders Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) yesterday fired back at Jiang over his remarks, calling on the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to own up to its failures.
Chen said that young Taiwanese have never been afraid to fall — had they been, they would not have risen time and again to challenge public officials’ question-dodging, hollow statements and authorities’ crackdowns on young protesters.
“We would like to ask Jiang not to attribute his failures to us [the Sunflower activists],” he said.
Although Chen called the tone of the premier’s address at yesterday’s meeting “cliched,” saying that it is the same one adopted by Ma during his inaugural speech six years ago, the student activist said he found Jiang’s remarks more insulting than the president’s.
“At least Ma made an effort to tone down the comments he made by citing a few examples of businesses established by self-made young Taiwanese... Jiang only said: ‘Students who didn’t take part in the [Sunflower] movement,’ without even bothering to cite any examples,” Chen said.
Lin said the Ma administration is only willing to hold dialogue with a handful of capitalists who submit to its rule. Only a corrupt leader would keep out their citizens with barb wires and barricades, Chen said, dubbing the strategy “the ostrich theory.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) categorizing of all young Taiwanese into either: “Sunflower movement participants” or “non-Sunflower movement participants” was ridiculous.
Tuan said that according to the KMT’s “logic,” the movement’s participants are anti-government brats who are constantly whining, while their counterparts are hardworking, promising young men people who never shirk their responsibilities.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying