The Presidential Office Building yesterday opened its doors to more than 8,000 visitors to an exhibition organized by the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The exhibition, titled “Power to the People,” is comprised of seven sections, with one featuring significant social movements that have taken place on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building over the past two decades, including the 1989 funeral of late democracy movement pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), the 2013 protest against nuclear power and the 2014 demonstration against the government’s attempt to rush through the cross-strait trade in services agreement.
Featuring the social movements signals the Tsai administration’s willingness to welcome different voices and opinions into the Presidential Office, which has traditionally been regarded as a less tolerant government agency.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
A total of 8,098 people visited the exhibition yesterday, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
Visitors were given a golden sticker, on which they could write down their expectations of the new government.
As the exhibition is open to all, including foreigners, some Chinese tourists who visited the building expressed their hopes of better cross-strait ties, writing down phrases such as the so-called “1992 consensus” or “May the motherland be unified and expatriates from both sides of the Taiwan Strait be united.”
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party have never recognized the existence of such an agreement.
In his welcome to the visitors, Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤) said Tsai has stressed the importance of making her policies more in sync with the voice of the public and reflective of society’s needs.
“We believe that after enjoying the various displays and performances, and the creativity they demonstrate, visitors can see that even this historical building can be infused with new life and energy,” Lin said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition