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.
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