Ma cancels press conference, waits for Siew to return

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) made a last-minute cancelation of a press gathering with Hong Kong reporters yesterday morning over concerns that the press would focus on issues related to the Boao Forum in Hainan, China.

Ma said he would not comment alone on vice president-elect Vincent Siew’s (蕭萬長) meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the forum and its impact on cross-strait relations, but would hold a press conference with Siew this afternoon to discuss the issues with local and Hong Kong reporters.

“The focus of the gathering would definitely be the Boao Forum, so we think Mr Ma should wait for Mr Siew to return and talk to the press about the issue together,” Ma spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅致強) said yesterday at KMT headquarters, just 30 minutes before the morning press gathering.

Ma had invited Hong Kong journalists to a one hour press conference, with local press allowed to sit in.

The new press conference has been scheduled for today at 1:30pm with the Hong Kong press and 2:30pm with local media.

Luo told local and Hong Kong reporters that Ma had planned to discuss the transfer of power and his recent consultations with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and others. However, as Siew’s meeting with Hu on Saturday had become the center of attention, Ma would not comment yesterday, but rather wait for the joint conference with Siew.

Luo said the decision to cancel the gathering was made at a staff meeting yesterday and was not made by Ma.

“We did not take issues related to the Boao Forum into consideration when we arranged this press gathering ... We are sorry if the change of schedule has caused trouble for our friends from Hong Kong,” Luo said.

In response to Luo’s announcement, some of the Hong Kong reporters complained, accusing Ma’s staff of a lack of respect for the media, as the press conference had already been postponed once from last Thursday because of a change in Ma’s schedule.

“Mr Ma could simply say he won’t answer questions about the Boao Forum at this gathering. We still can discuss other issues with him,” a Hong Kong TV station reporter said to Luo.

Luo said Ma had accepted the suggestion of his aides to postpone the gathering out of respect for Siew.