The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office’s (TECRO) Cultural Center in Washington has rejected a request to allow Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) to deliver a speech at the facility, Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) said yesterday.
TECRO had asked the opinions of 63 people who serve as honorable consultants and executives of the culture center about the request and received 54 replies: Nine gave their consent, 38 opposed it and seven said they do not have an opinion on the matter, Chen said.
The North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association, Taiwanese American Science and Technology Association and Taiwanese American Senior Association have invited Huang — a leader of the Sunflower movement that occupied the legislature in March and April in protest against the government’s handling of a proposed service trade agreement with China — to speak on the “predicament and prospects facing Taiwan’s democracy” on Saturday.
Last week, the organizers announced the speech venue, stirring up debate among Taiwanese expatriates in the US and prompting Representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) to defer the question to the 63.
Chen said there were three reasons why the application was rejected.
First, the organizers announced the speech venue as a fait accompli before they obtained permission from the culture center; second, the organizers threatened to call a press conference unless the culture center agreed to rent out the hall, and that should not be encouraged; and third, the culture center is not a place to hold events that may arouse political controversy, Chen said.
Regulations governing these overseas facilities state that the culture center should not host any political or electoral activity, Chen said, adding that it is customary that such activities be held either in a hotel or at the Taiwan Presbyterian Church of Washington.
As for those who supported Huang, they said that any issue related to Taiwan can be discussed at the center, with some adding a condition that organizers should promise not to damage the center’s property, Chen said.
If the organizers had not announced the speech venue before they had obtained a permit, the culture center could have agreed to loan the hall, Chen said.
“If it were not for the controversial way they organized the event, the culture center would not have to take the issue to TECRO,” he said.
Chen said he hoped to bring unity to Taiwanese expatriates, despite the long-standing blue-green divide in the community.
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