Several dozen protesters gathered outside the Grand Hyatt New York on Sunday night where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was hosting a private dinner during a brief stopover in the metropolis while en route to Paraguay.
The dinner was attended by members of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) and Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang (蔡國強).
Protest convener Lai Hong-tien (賴宏典), a dentist in the Manhattan area, said he had been unaware of Ma’s visit until Friday, adding that the rally had been hastily organized by a small number of people.
Photo: Nadia Tsao, Taipei Times
“We hadn’t expected to gather such a crowd,” Lai said, adding that he and his fellow organizers had told police that about 15 people would attend.
The protesters held banners and signs bearing messages such as: “Stop selling out Taiwan,” “Cease the oppression of human rights,” as well as other more politically charged messages such as “Tear Down Dapu [Borough (大埔)] today, we’ll overthrow the government tomorrow,” “Halt the construction of the Longmen [Fourth] Nuclear Power Plant,” “Truth in the Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) incident,” and a call for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Lai said that most overseas Taiwanese are unhappy with how Ma is governing the nation, believing him to be deceitful, adding that they are especially worried about the cross-strait trade service agreement, which many see as an acceleration of Ma’s attempt to “sell out Taiwan.”
Despite the unexpected turnout, the New York Police Department officers monitoring the demonstration did not intervene and allowed the protest to continue.
Lai also criticized the Ma administration’s policy of pursuing a diplomatic detente with China.
“I don’t know what Ma’s is afraid of,” Lai said, referring to what he sees as Ma’s avoidance of Taiwanese organizations in lieu of close dealings with China-oriented organizations in the US.
Since the Ma administration assumed power, it has never engaged “true Taiwanese,” Lai said, adding that in contrast to how the Chen administration helped give Taiwan an international voice and highlight its diplomatic situation, the nation has been silenced under Ma’s reign.
Lai also panned Ma’s planned visit to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association branch in New York’s Chinatown.
“There are no Taiwanese [in the association],” and it could be said that the entire association has nothing to do with Taiwan, Lai said. “It seems that only Chinese know of Ma’s itinerary.”
This was yet another example of how Ma only liaises with China-centric organizations and completely failing to contact any “real Taiwanese” compatriots, Lai said.
The association was founded in 1883 and was one of the earliest Chinese groups in the US.
Ma was in New York on a transit stop en route to a five-nation diplomatic tour that will cover Paraguay and Taiwan’s four allies in the Caribbean.
He was greeted by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt and Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.
While in New York, Ma will meet US Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, and ranking committee member Eliot Engel
He is also scheduled to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the city and New York University, where he once studied.
He will stay in the city until tomorrow, before heading to Haiti, the first stop of the tour.
From Haiti he will fly to Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Additional reporting by CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary