A letter by an American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) board member alleging that the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) motive in supporting the “illegal occupation” of the legislature by the so-called “Sunflower student movement” is for political gains in upcoming elections, and which challenges as undemocratic the party’s history of physically blocking legislative proceedings, has raised discussion in political circles and the media.
David Brown, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and former US foreign service officer, wrote the letter to the Nelson Report, a Washington daily newsletter, in response to a letter by DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), which was also published in the newsletter.
Both the AIT and the US Department of State dismissed Brown’s letter as an expression of personal views.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
In her English-language letter, the DPP legislator explained the background of the student movement and the actions taken by the students and the government.
Hsiao “conveniently omits the DPP’s record of obstruction of Legislative Yuan consideration of the agreement,” Brown wrote, adding that the DPP encouraged members to support the students’ illegal occupation to protect Taiwan’s democracy.
“But if it is about democracy, is the DPP’s repeated physical blocking of Legislative Yuan action democratic?” Brown wrote.
“The DPP’s problem is that the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT], divided as it is, has a Legislative Yuan majority, and the DPP will go to whatever lengths are necessary to block the majority when their key interests are involved or when it suits the DPP’s election mobilization goals to exploit issues for political advantage,” he wrote.
US citizens “would not permit such obstruction to occur in the [US] Congress, and we would not view the DPP’s obstruction tactics as legitimate democratic action,” he said.
The professor wrote that he suspected the DPP was engaging in the controversy surrounding the cross-strait service trade pact and the student protest to draw support before the year-end elections.
Several media outlets have picked up the news and reported that the US government “has given the DPP the cold shoulder” in its attempt to seek US support for the student protest movement.
In response, Hsiao said that she wrote the open letter on Tuesday for overseas inquiries about the student movement, in particular about the students’ occupation of the Executive Yuan compound and the police crackdown.
“Whether the letter was biased is something I’ll leave for the public to decide,” Hsiao said.
The AIT distanced itself from Brown’s comments.
“David Brown was expressing his own opinion, not that of AIT. The US continues to believe that these issues should be resolved civilly and peacefully. Other questions about the extent of demonstrations and any expectations about their future course are more properly directed to the Taiwan authorities,” AIT spokesperson Mark Zimmer said in an e-mail.
At a press conference yesterday, DPP representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said Brown and the US officials have stressed that the letter was Brown’s personal opinion, and Washington’s official position had been clearly defined by US Department of State spokesperson Marie Harf in a press briefing on Monday last week.
“We certainly support Taiwan’s vibrant democracy, which allows for this kind of robust political dialogue on a range of issues. The agreement on cross-strait trade in services that I think you’re referencing is an issue for Taiwan to decide. We hope that the discussion can be conducted peacefully and civilly,” Harf told the briefing.
“If Professor Brown failed to understand a series of incidents of misgovernment, among them land seizures in Dapu District (大埔), Miaoli County; the laid-off-workers controversy and the death of an army corporal, and tried to smear the DPP as engaging in election mobilization, it would be an insult to the awakening of the civil society in Taiwan and to the 500,000 people who attended the mass rally on Sunday,” Wu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it