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.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from