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
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS