President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he has heard the public’s complaints about the government, and promised to try to improve its performance amid constant protests against him.
“We’ve heard the people’s voice, and we hope the people give the government more opportunity and time. There are things that we need to do immediately, and there are things that require a little time. We will do it step-by-step,” he said while attending the 13th National Prayer Breakfast in New Taipei City (新北市).
Ma made the comments in response to a protest held at the event, in which several people holding a white banner expressing opposition to several government policies, including the cross-strait services trade agreement, the forced demolition of privately owned houses for urban renewal and the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Photo: CNA
The protesters kept silent during the protest, but were still asked to leave by security. The Presidential Office later accepted a petition from them.
Ma defended the government’s efforts to improve the economy by signing economic pacts with major trade partners and creating more investment opportunities for local businesses.
He also cited the government’s handling of the public discontent over the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), who died on July 4 after he was confined and forced to do strenuous exercise in extreme heat, and said the government’s move to turn over the trials of military personnel to civilian courts was a positive response.
“This example represents the government’s prompt response to a request in a mature civil society. The government communicates with the people, and takes necessary actions to respond to their requests,” he said.
Later yesterday, while meeting with representatives of the electronic commerce industry at the Presidential Office, Ma said the cross-strait service trade agreement aimed to profit the whole nation, rather than a particular political party or industry.
“Our trade rivals have been speeding up their pace of signing free-trade agreements with mainland China and other nations. The advantages we created via the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement will disappear soon if we don’t catch up,” he said, calling for the approval of the service trade pact in the legislature.
The pact, which was signed in June and opened market access to 64 local service sectors to Chinese investment, has been under strong public scrutiny over what the opposition and representatives of the service sectors called lack of transparency and prior consultation.
The legislature went on to demand the pact be screened and voted on clause-by-clause.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS