On the anniversary of last year’s occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber in Taipei, sparked by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) attempt to push through the cross-strait service trade agreement, the Executive Yuan held a live-streamed program that was open to questions on a proposed cross-strait agreement oversight mechanism and called for solidarity with younger generations with the slogan: “We are one family.”
The Executive Yuan posted the title of the program on its official Facebook page: “Realizing cross-generational justice; marching forward hand-in-hand,” saying Taiwan’s democracy has “moved a step forward” in communication since the Sunflower movement.
“Looking back to the same time exactly a year ago, people had different opinions about cross-strait economic and trade affairs, which subsequently triggered a series of civil activities,” the post said. “Although a few regrettable incidents occurred, it is laudable that Taiwanese society has — through the expression and communication of diverse views — shown that it is a cultivated democracy.”
In the statement on Facebook, but not on the Executive Yuan’s official Web page, it said that the government has “reflected on the event and felt society’s yearning for changes and the younger generation’s anxiety about the future.”
Other than listing measures targeting young people and aiming to transform the government into an open one that the Executive Yuan has been promoting in the past few months, it claimed to have proposed — as a concrete response to the public’s demands — a draft bill for handling cross-strait agreements.
While the oversight bill proposed by the Executive Yuan has been criticized as an “oversight-free” bill, the agency has continued to advertise it.
Yesterday’s program, hosted by Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群), aired from 7pm to 8pm and featured Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言).
Hsia denied that the oversight bill proposed by the Executive Yuan lacks teeth.
“The strict oversight mechanism bills tabled [by civic groups] are only for self-gratification,” Hsia said, insinuating that they are too rigorous to be effective in facilitating negotiations.
Although viewers could comment in a chat room that ran alongside the program as it was streamed on YouTube, the interaction was not immediate and for the first 40 minutes of the show, appeared to be mostly one-way policy promotion.
Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱), an active participant of the Sunflower movement, said earlier in the week that the Executive Yuan had invited him and several other activists, along with two citizen journalists, to the show.
“Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) proposed it and the MAC agreed, but the idea was opposed in a meeting,” Wang said on Facebook. “They refused to tell us who objected, but the reason was that it is not suitable to discuss [the bill] publicly.”
Meanwhile, Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said his administration is prepared to engage in open and active discourse and listen to the opinions of people from all walks of life.
Ma believes the anniversary of the Sunflower movement protests offers the perfect opportunity for self-reflection and review, Chen added.
In a democratic society like Taiwan, “any political demands proposed on the basis of the law should be fully respected,” Chen quoted Ma as saying. “The government and civil society should not stand against each other.”
The two should work together to promote social reform, Chen quoted Ma as saying.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai