People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday denied that he said anything “concrete pertaining to” the Sunflower movement when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wedneday, following local media reports that he supports the student-led protests.
Soong, who is on a five-day visit to China, made the denial after he delivered a speech on the idea of benevolence (仁) and fair distribution (均) during a book launch organized by Peking University Press for a reprint of his 1978 book, How to write academic dissertations.
The PFP leader said benevolence and fair distribution were the “New Chinese values” that should replace China’s focus on “nation and market economy.”
Responding to reporters’ questions about the Sunflower movement after the speech, Soong said he did not mention the movement “in concrete terms” in his talk with Xi, but mentioned the free expression that Taiwanese enjoy in general.
“I did not bring up any of those matters [about the protests] from the beginning to the end of the meeting, but I did emphasize that different views should be respected,” Soong said.
Local media had also reported that Soong asked Xi to respect what was happening with the social movements in Taiwan.
In his speech to an audience of more than 100 students and teachers at the book launch, Soong referred to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) dictum, “No investigation, no right to speak,” to emphasize that only logical and scientific thinking can help uncover the truth.
“It is not true that Big Brother is always right or that only those with louder voice are the ones who have it right,” he said.
Benevolence and fair distribution are more valuable than “nation” and “market economy,” Soong said.
He added that the philosophy, with Chinese characteristics, could make a positive contribution to the world.
Citing Xi as telling him that he hoped Taiwan could have social stability, economic development, improved living conditions and happy people, Soong said that Xi’s comments personified the idea of “distributing the benefits to everyone instead of raking them in for oneself.”
Soong also told his audience that a country’s progress does not rely merely on young people’s anger, but also on their hard work and ambition to make a better future for themselves and their nation.
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