Advocates and dozens of civic groups yesterday condemned the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus for sending the cross-strait service trade agreement to a plenary session without it being screened, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the KMT “have declared war on Taiwan’s democracy.”
In a joint meeting of eight legislative committees to review the controversial pact, yesterday’s agenda was put forth by the KMT caucus, leading the Democratic Progressive Party to criticize the ruling party for “forcing” a final vote on the agreement — one the KMT would be sure to win.
“If that’s the case, Taiwanese have no choice but to declare war on Ma and lawmakers who know nothing but loyalty to Ma,” Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), a research fellow at Academia Sinica, said yesterday evening.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Earlier yesterday at a protest held in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, the protesters gave Ma, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and the KMT caucus a 24-hour deadline to agree to six demands about the controversial trade pact.
They demanded that the agreement should neither be directly sent for a second reading nor take effect automatically, also that the legislature review the agreement clause by clause and list the withdrawal or suspension of the pact as alternative options.
“We could hardly believe that Ma and the KMT have done this on the first day [of a three-day review session]. We will immediately stage a sit-in here until Ma and the KMT make an appropriate response to our demands,” Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強), convener of the Democratic Front Against Cross-strait Trade in Services Agreement, told a press conference in front of the legislature yesterday evening.
The protesters called for a line-by-line review of the deal and adjustments to mitigate the possible damage to local businesses.
“With more than 70 percent of the people supporting a clause-by-clause review [of the pact], we think that a president with a 9 percent support rate has no right to unilaterally decide Taiwan’s future,” Lai said, adding that the KMT’s disregard of mainstream public opinion was a failure of Taiwan’s democracy.
“It is obvious to me that Ma has forced Taiwanese to search for an ‘outside-the-system’ solution, so that is what we’re going to do,” said Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群), convener of Taiwan Democracy Watch.
Additional reporting by CNA
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS