Snowballing protests against the cross-strait service agreement are not affecting the government’s resolution to push the pact through the legislature by June, as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated his order to the Cabinet that it must be ratified by then.
Ma, who also serves as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, reiterated the deadline during the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting, which was also attended by Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺).
According to committee members, who asked to remain anonymous, Ma did not respond to the demands of the protesters at the Legislative Yuan during the meeting.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
At the meeting, Ma “commended” the way the KMT caucus had handled the trade pact and “expressed his appreciation to party lawmakers,” KMT officials said.
They quoted Ma as saying that the KMT caucus dealt with the issue in a “sensible, reasonable and legitimate” manner after KMT Policy Committee chief executive Lin Hung-chih’s (林鴻池) briefing on the matter.
The committee responded to Ma’s remarks with applause, the officials said.
KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) on Monday declared that the pact had cleared the committee stage without any of its articles being reviewed, prompting an occupation of the legislative chamber on Tuesday evening, mainly by students.
Along with the demand that the trade agreement be subject to a line-by-line review, the students said that Chang’s decision should be invalidated, Ma must apologize, Jiang should step down and the police must be withdrawn from the legislature.
They also called for legislation to increase supervision over cross-strait negotiations.
KMT officials said that Ma did not comment on what he thought Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) should do to end the occupation.
Earlier yesterday, when speaking to KMT caucus whips at a separate meeting, Ma urged the lawmakers to spare no efforts to get the trade pact ratified by June “lest the international community question our resolution, sincerity and credibility” in trade negotiations.
He told the whips that he hoped the endorsement and activation of the pact would bring about an “economic breakthrough” this year.
Jiang remained mum on the protest yesterday. However, late on Tuesday night, he called Wang and told him that he had given the National Police Agency the green light to intervene in the occupation.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) yesterday confirmed that Jiang called Wang and that they were in agreement on the urgency of restoring the “order” and “dignity” of the legislature as soon as possible.
Sun said the Executive Yuan would respect the way the Legislative Yuan handles the protesters after Wang said that he would call a meeting among caucus whips to map out a strategy to resolve the dispute.
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said that the office supported Wang’s call for an early resumption of normal legislative work and appropriate handling of the issue in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) said he regretted the “ignorance” of the students “committing acts in violations of laws and discipline.”
“They had no idea that they were used by politicians,” Wang said.
Citing Jesus saying on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” Wang said he would like to pray for God to forgive the protesters because they had no idea what they are doing.
They acted like lawmakers who are often seen in the press engaging in scuffling, water-spraying, hair-pulling, occupation of the legislative podium, locking the doors to the entrance of the chamber and sleeping on the floor, Wang said.
“Taiwan is spiraling downward. Young friends, do you have a future?” he said.
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
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS