President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday scheduled a meeting on Monday with the students staging a protest at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, but the students said that would be too late. They said that they would launch further protests if Chen did not see them yesterday.
In pouring rain, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Wen-chia (
A minimum of eight students have been taking turns to go without food for 12 hours, labeling the action a "hunger strike," since last Friday. They demanded that a "truth task force" be established to investigate the attempted assassination of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), as well as the immediate formation of a coalition Cabinet. They have accused Chen of manipulating the media and abandoning administrative neutrality. They demand that he issue an apology.
The students claim to be a revival of the Formosa Lily Movement of the early 1990s, a pro-democracy movement that was launched by university students against the then-ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lo, who was part of the original Formosa Lily Movement, promised to pass the students' appeals along to Chen and arrange a meeting as soon as possible. Lo encouraged students to maintain their independence and enthusiasm for national affairs on a basis that is beyond the consideration of political parties.
Soon after talking to Chen at the Presidential Office, Lo announced yesterday at noon that Chen was willing to meet the students on Monday at 11am. Chen was quoted by Lo as saying that he welcomes students who want to talk to him, whether they were taking part in the protest or not, and that he would address the topics that they wanted to discuss.
Chen will make the meeting public and it will not be held at the Presidential Office, according to the students' requests, Lo said.
The meeting will last about two hours and will allow 40 to 50 students to join in, according to Lo.
"President Chen is very concerned about the students' health and said he wanted to see them as soon as possible," Lo said at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
However, the students rejected Chen's suggestion, saying he was not sincere in his promise to meet them.
Chen Cheng-feng (陳政峰), 35, one of eight organizers of the student protest and a history major at National Taiwan University's continued education division, said they would not accept Chen Shui-bian's invitation and continue with their protest unless the president met them before the end of the day yesterday.
"The students cannot hold on any longer. How can he make us suffer from hunger for another three days? Chen's response is just an attempt to wash away our appeals. We have no faith in politicians. We just want to stick to what we believe," Chen Cheng-feng said yesterday.
He added that students would launch another protest action if the president did not see them before today, but refused to say what the action would entail.
Lo said yesterday afternoon that he was surprised by and felt sorry about the students' response.
"I don't understand why they changed their standpoints, since their major appeal -- to see the president -- has been satisfied," Lo said.
Lo said that the students had announced on Wednesday that they would end the hunger strike today, although Chen Shui-bian had not yet offered a meeting with them at the time.
Lo said the students' changeable requests made it difficult for him to negotiate with the president about their demands.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) suggested that the government treat the students with more love, patience and tolerance, according to Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmaker Cheng Chen-lung (程振隆).
"Former president Lee hopes that the man in power will have more tolerance and flexibility with the public so as not to hurt innocent people," Cheng said.
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