Sunflower movement activists yesterday threatened to escalate protests if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refuses to engage in open debate over “supervisory articles” for negotiations with China, demanding that the party address flaws in its proposed draft legislation.
Protesters from about 20 civic groups gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan’s front gate, shouting their rejection of “fake” legislative supervision of negotiations with China.
“The Sunflower movement is not finished yet — we are extremely anxious about where DPP trade policy is going,” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, adding that premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) promised to move forward with the cross-strait service trade agreement and trade in goods agreement.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Lai’s organization spearheaded early opposition to the service trade agreement, which culminated in the Legislative Yuan being surrounded by protesters for three weeks during 2014’s Sunflower movement, after the main legislative chamber was occupied by student activists. Passing supervisory regulations to address opaque “black box” negotiations with China by guaranteeing legislative oversight and civic participation was a key demand of the movement.
The relatively “flexible” and “loose” version of supervisory regulations proposed by the DPP caucus — which would not be applied retroactively to past agreements or negotiations already underway — raised questions about whether they were laying a path for continuing President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China trade policy, Lai said, calling for the DPP and New Power Party (NPP) caucuses to respond to activists’ objections within a week, and to hold open dialogues and debates over differences in opinion.
The protesters said the draft legislation was too weak to guarantee legislative supervisory powers, meaningful civil participation or rigorous review of the effect of agreements. They also criticized it for failing to include special standards for sovereignty-related negotiations and also for using language referring to Taiwan as an “area” instead of a nation.
“If the DPP intends to take a different course [from Ma’s administration], it should not use previous methods of dealing with the objections raised by civil society,” former Sunflower movement spokesman Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said, blasting DPP legislators for allegedly claiming that activists’ objections were the result of “misunderstandings.”
“I think some of the demands are because of a lack of understanding [of DPP draft legislation] while others are because of genuine differences of opinion,” said DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), who met with protesters on behalf of the DPP caucus.
While NPP legislators Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) accepted the protesters’ demands for open discussions and debate, Lee said his party’s caucus believed it was important to follow Legislative Yuan procedures for reviewing legislation.
“We will seek to work in opinions from all parties and invite everyone to participate in public hearings to fully express their views,” he said.
His remarks drew cries of “not satisfied” from protesters, with Lin saying that a “public hearing” would not satisfy protesters’ demands for an open debate and promising to return to “get an answer” if the DPP fails to respond within a week.
Meanwhile, Wang Puchen (王炳忠) and other protesters affiliated with the “deep-blue” New Party also showed up to “support” the activists — breaking out periodically into shouts accusing the DPP of “political fraud” for switching its position on supervisory articles.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus echoed the activists, calling on DPP chairperson and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to apologize to the public for the party’s change of attitude.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the DPP had a “two-state doctrine” imbedded in its past draft legislation, which put “Taiwan and China” in the name of the proposed law.
“Now it is gone, meaning a great deal has changed,” Wang said. “The party chairperson should offer an explanation and acknowledge that what she had upheld was a mistake. Should she not apologize to the KMT and the Executive Yuan for what she has done?”
Wang called on the activists and civil groups that participated in the Sunflower movement to “use the same standard that they had for overseeing the Ma administration to oversee the incoming government led by Tsai.”
KMT Legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) seconded Wang’s remarks, calling on the Appendectomy Project organizers — who had called for the recall of the incompetent lawmakers who were mainly, but not limited to, KMT members — to take the axe to the DPP lawmakers as well.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao
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