KMT is ‘shocked,’ does not endorse Wang’s promise

By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus hold a press conference yesterday afternoon, expressing surprise at comments made shortly before by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

While Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) promise yesterday to enact a law regulating pacts with China before resuming the process of deliberating the cross-strait service trade pact won kudos from the opposition, it was rejected by the Presidential Office and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus.

An hour or so after Wang, a KMT member, pledged that before the enactment of the law, which has been called for by the student-led protesters occupying the legislature, he will not hold any inter-party negotiation about the controversial trade pact, the KMT caucus told a press conference that it was not informed and was “shocked” to hear Wang’s pledge.

The KMT caucus said that those KMT members who were present during Wang’s talk did not know the content of his speech beforehand and “do not endorse the announcement that Wang has made.”

KMT legislators Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池), Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and -Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞), who accompanied Wang during his visit to the legislature, told the press conference that they were “startled” upon hearing Wang’s comments because they had had no idea what it was about beforehand.

The promise Wang made about not convening cross-party negotiations until the legislation of an oversight mechanism has been completed has been interpreted by the students and some media as concurring with the students’ demand of “legislation before reviewing [the service trade agreement],” said Lin, the KMT caucus whip.

“However, we have to emphasize that the KMT caucus’ stance has always been that the two [the legislation and the review] can be carried out on parallel tracks,” Lin said in a rebuttal to the interpretation.

Fei, the KMT caucus deputy secretary, said he felt the party was “betrayed and sold out” by Wang, who “did not communicate with the party caucus before releasing the statement and made us who stood beside him appear to blindly endorse his views.”

“Despite [Wang’s] assertion that he did not inform anyone about his statement before making it public, it seemed that DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and the students had all known about Wang’s intention before he went to the legislative chamber,” Fei added.

Lin also took the opportunity to underline the validity of all the conclusions made by the cross-party negotiations staged before Wang’s speech yesterday.

“DPP had agreed to have a clause-by-clause discussion and vote in last year’s inter-party negotiation. To say not to carry out negotiation anymore does not mean that the former ones are no longer binding,” Lin said.

He then called on the students to leave the Legislative Yuan immediately for the 10 versions of the draft bill on cross-strait agreements oversight mechanism “to be handed to the committee by the legislative floor meeting.”

Lin said the non-government version of the draft will also be included.

“You keep saying the legislation is to be done prior to the review, but the reality is that we cannot even legislate now with the floor being occupied,” he said.

When asked whether the KMT would, if the students retreated, positively respond to the their demand of “legislate first, review next,” Lin repeated that the two can be carried out simultaneously and that “the cross-strait service trade agreement was signed “not without a legal base,” referring to the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), “according to which a total 19 [cross-strait] agreements have already been signed.”

Separately yesterday, Ker rebutted the KMT caucus’ remarks, saying that more than 20 KMT lawmakers stood behind Wang as he made his speech and that they all raised their hands with Wang after he completed the speech, chanting: “Taiwan, jia you [加油, an expression of encouragement],” several times.

Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday called again for the early passage of the pact.

Ma had no knowledge beforehand of either Wang’s morning visit to protesters at the Legislative Yuan or his promise that the legislature will not review the pact until a law monitoring cross-strait agreements is enacted, Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said.

Additional reporting by Rich Chang and CNA

Breakaway protest group calls for greater diversity

By Jason Pan  /  Staff writer

Student factions and some activist groups into their 17th day of protest outside the legislature have formed a breakaway group called the “Jianmin Liberation Zone” (賤民解放區), as ideological differences and dissenting voices emerged against the core leadership within the Sunflower movement.

Although some view it as a major rift within the movement, others see the development as the movement’s vibrant and healthy outgrowth, to encompass a wide diversity of people, ideas and aspirations.

The breakaway group on Wednesday set up its own assembly space for crowd-gathering, speeches and group discussions southwest of the legislature on Jinan Road, in front of the National Taiwan University Alumni Building.

The group was initially composed of 23 students who said their voices were not being heard, as they also advocated fighting against free trade and globalization, in addition to opposing the cross-strait service trade pact.

Since then, they have been joined by some activist groups and labor organizations, including the Taiwan International Workers Association (台灣國際勞工協會), the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories (全國關廠工人連線) and the Taiwan Alliance for Victims of Urban Renewal (台灣都市更新受害者聯盟).

Calling their own forum the “Jianmin Liberation Zone,” they say they mean to represent the “deprived,” the “unheard voices” at the bottom of society.

The term jianmin (賤民) usually refers to India’s lowest caste, the “Dalits” (known as “the Untouchables” in the past); but it has also been used to denote the highly discriminated against, lowest social classes of China, Japan and the Koreas.

Their “manifesto” says that they are against the elitist approach, saying that the movement should not be led by a few “elite” leaders, and that nobody can purport to speak for a whole group of people.

It is a direct challenge to and criticism of Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), the two “media stars,” as the two most prominent leaders of the Sunflower movement.

The manifesto also says: “This is not just a student movement. Many protest participants come from all sectors of society, from all occupations. There are laborers, farmers, office employees and many others who have not been able to take part in the decision making process.”

Responding to the development, Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting turned up at the breakaway group’s assembly late on Wednesday, as the two student leaders listened to criticisms and different viewpoints.

According to news reports, Lin gave an embarrassed grin when some people called out to Lin to say he was being “deified” and being turned into a “hero celebrity” by the media.

In a conciliatory gesture, Lin took instructions from speakers and joined the audience to show that he was together with the “Jianmin” group.

In an interview afterward, Lin said: “The student movement does not belong to any one person, and does not belong to one certain group. We do not see this as a split in the movement. I was there to hear the different voices. This is important for taking reflections during the process of a social movement.”

‘White Wolf’ Mafia Leader leads pro-pact rally

‘White Wolf’ leads pro-pact rally

FAILED SMEAR:Chang An-le said the students against the pact did not ‘deserve to be Chinese,’ only to be told that ‘we are not Chinese... We are Taiwanese’

By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Police officers on Zhongxiao E Road in Taipei yesterday block supporters of the cross-strait service trade agreement from approaching the Legislative Yuan.

Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times

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Former gang leader Chang An-le (張安樂), who heads the China Unification Promotion Party, led hundreds of people to the streets near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to demand that the students who have been “illegally” occupying the legislative chamber “return the legislature.”

Chang, known as the “White Wolf,” said on Monday that he would not take part in yesterday’s counter-protest, but he did not explain his change of heart yesterday.

He said the two main student leaders, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), were “employed students,” a phrase coined during the Martial Law era to refer to students who worked for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to spy on their peers and report any “unlawful” action against the state.

Chen and Lin led hundreds of students in the occupation of the legislative chamber on March 18. The student protesters, who have grown into the Sunflower movement, are demanding that a mechanism to monitor cross-strait talks be established before legislators resume their review of the controversial service trade pact with Beijing.

Accompanied by two student members of the pro-unification New Party — Wang Puchen (王炳忠) and Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) — Chang and his supporters engaged in an hours-long standoff against supporters of the Sunflower movement at one end of Zhengjiang Street, with scores of policemen acting as a buffer between the two sides.

Chang and his group criticized the police for being “blind to the criminal activities” inside the Legislative Yuan, while blocking “law-abiding citizens” from entering the building, “which belongs to everybody.”

One woman called the students in the legislative chamber “green guards” who were being directed by the Democratic Progressive Party.

At one point, Chang, apparently upset by pro-Sunflower supporters calling him a gangster, angrily shouted: “You are all fucking offspring of Chinese, but you do not deserve to be Chinese. Chinese people do not want you.”

The students responded with applause and laughter, with many shouting: “We are not Chinese anyway. We are Taiwanese.”

Thousands of students supporting the Sunflower movement gathered outside the Legislative Yuan — mostly along Qingdao E Road — to protect those inside.

They responded to Chang and his protesters by singing Island’s Sunrise (島嶼天光), which has become the Sunflower movement’s anthem, and chanting: “Retract the cross-strait service trade agreement” and “Safeguard our democracy.”

Mocking Chang, who allegedly paid for “walkers” to join his demonstration, the students said: “We do not need ‘employed walkers’ to protect democracy.”

Hearing that Chang’s group was asking to meet with student representatives to deliver a petition, Fu Jen Catholic University philosophy professor Shen Ching-kai (沈清楷), who was outside the legislature, said the pro-pact demonstrators were directing themselves at the wrong people.

“Should not those in power be the ones held accountable for people’s complaints?” he said.

Responding from the legislative chamber, Chen said that Chang and his group should be appealing to the Presidential Office, not the anti-pact students.

“The president and the lawmakers are the people who have the real power. The question is not to ask us when are we leaving the Legislative Yuan, but when these people will begin to solve the problem.”

One pro-Sunflower student was hurt after being chased by pro-pact protesters, who threw bottles at him.

Chang’s followers included members of the pro-unification Patriot Association and the Chinese Cross-Strait Women’s League.

His group dispersed after 5pm, but Chang said he would be back.

Pact supporters to confront students

By Rich Chang  /  Staff reporter

Former Bamboo Union member “White Wolf” Chang An-le, right, and Taiwan Labor Welfare Alliance convener Wang Yu-wen shake hands during a press conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

Groups opposed to the student-led occupation of the Legislative Yuan yesterday said they would lead a rally to the legislature in Taipei to talk to the students today, with former Bamboo Union leader Chang An-le (張安樂) pledging full support for the action.

The groups include the Taiwan Labor Welfare Alliance, Taipei City General Union and representatives from various industries and unions.

Chang, known as the “White Wolf,” fled to China in 1996 and was on Taiwan’s most-wanted list for alleged violations of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例). He was arrested when he returned to Taiwan on June 30 last year, but was promptly released on bail.

Chang, who is also the head of the China Unification Promotion Party, said the students and some members of the public had been “misled” into thinking that the cross-strait service trade agreement would harm the interests of Taiwan.

Several media reports said Chang would lead 2,000 people in confronting the students today, but Chang said while he fully supports the groups’ move, he would not join the action.

“We will ask police to allow us to enter the legislature and go to the assembly hall. The assembly hall belongs to all people, not only students, does it not?” Taiwan Labor Welfare Alliance convener Wang Yu-wen (王裕文) said.

“We want to discuss the cross-strait service trade pact with students,” he said.

Shih Yen-ting (施彥廷), a spokesperson for the student activists, said the students are not worried.

“We hope that he [Chang] and his followers will come in peace and not create conflict,” Shih said. “If they try to force themselves in, we have built up a system to defend the legislative chamber. We have also notified the police.”

Shih added that if Chang and his followers support the students’ appeals, “we would invite them to sit down with us, but based on what we have heard so far, they seem to hold an opposite view on the issue.”

Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said that any civic group activity should be peaceful and rational, and any person found breaking the law would be held responsible by authorities.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) condemned Chang’s planned action and called on Taipei police to take precautionary measures to prevent an escalation of tensions.

The DPP has received intelligence that gangster organizations are directly involved in the planned action today and Taipei police should take the necessary measures to ensure students’ safety, DPP spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.

TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) raised his concern over the gangsters’ close connections with Beijing, which he said is now openly interfering with Taiwanese public policies and affairs.

He urged fellow citizens to protect the students.

Huang also accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of resorting to gangsters to oppress people who oppose him.

Taipei police said that officers would be deployed around the legislature today during the protest.

Meanwhile, netizens called on the public to go to the legislature to protect the students.

“Students are not like gangsters who have weapons. They are our future and they need to be protected,” a netizen named FaBie said.

“I will go to the legislature and serve as a body shield for the students. I do not carry a weapon, I don’t provoke others, but I want you to know that I am behind the students,” he wrote.

Fear motivates students: educators

‘VOLCANIC ERUPTION’:：Insecurities about the future in terms of obtaining jobs and a devaluation of college degrees are fueling the students’ protests, educators said

By Rachel Lin, Kan Chih-chi and Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Sun, Mar 30, 2014 - Page 3

Several educators yesterday said the ongoing student movement against the cross-strait service trade agreement was galvanized by the younger generation’s fear that the pact could in effect flush their college diplomas down the toilet and add to the uncertainty of their future.

They made the remarks at a press conference on the nation’s widening education-jobs gap yesterday as the students’ unprecedented occupation of the legislature entered its 12th day.

Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School teacher Tuan Hsin-yi (段心儀), who is also a member of the Forum on Checking Educational Reform, said youngsters nowadays were devastated by the lack of hope for their future as the country continued to be plagued by problems of overworking, rocketing property prices and plummeting salaries.

“The student movement is just the first wave of a series of ‘volcanic eruptions,’” Tuan said.

National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Social Sciences Dean Lin Hui-lin (林惠玲) said just one-third of the 10.7 million students entering the employment market in 2011 had obtained jobs that required a college degree.

“In addition, about 600,000 of the 4 million students who graduated from college were forced to settle for jobs that junior or senior-high school graduates would qualify for,” Lin said.

NTU Institute of Applied Mechanics professor Wang Li-sheng (王立昇) attributed the growing education-jobs gap to the government’s policy to establish many senior-high schools and universities across the country.

“Thirty years ago, the country produced only about 28,000 college graduates each year, but that number has climbed dramatically to 230,000 at present. If the number of students graduating from postgraduate schools every year is also counted, the figure could stand at more than 300,000,” Wang said.

Yet because the industry’s demand for college graduates has not increased much over the past two decades, the imbalance has led to a severe depreciation of college degrees, Wang said.

“Take the manufacturing industry as an example. Most college graduates aim for jobs as a technician or an engineer, but these positions account for less than 30 percent of the 2 million jobs offered by the industry,” Wang said, adding that the lack of suitable positions often forced college graduates to accept low-level jobs in labor-intensive sectors.

Meanwhile, about 73 percent of the respondents to a survey released by the online job board yes123 yesterday expressed concern about their job opportunities being hindered by the cross-strait treaty, with 26.4 percent not concerned.

About 65.7 percent of respondents worried that their salaries could be affected, while 34.3 percent said they were not worried.

The poll also found that most first-time job seekers looked for jobs through job-matching Web sites (48.4 percent) and began their application process before they graduated or had completed their compulsory military service (78.2 percent).

About 38.4 percent of those polled found job-hunting more difficult than a year ago, while 37.3 percent had a lower salary expectation this year compared with a year ago.

Despite an uncertain future, about 30 percent of respondents were willing to spend up to three years pursuing their dreams, including studying abroad, cultivating a second speciality and starting a business venture.

The poll was conducted between March 20 and Wednesday and collected 692 valid samples.

It had a margin of error of 3.73 percentage points.

Protesters willing to meet with Ma

FOR ALL TO WITNESS:Student protest leaders said a meeting with the president to address the trade pact siege should be held in a public setting

By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Lawyer Lai Chung-chiang, Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang and student leaders Chen Wei-ting and Lin Fei-fan, left to right, call for legislation institutionalizing oversight of cross-strait agreements in the occupied chamber of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

The leaders of student protesters occupying the legislative chamber and civic group representatives yesterday agreed to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) without preconditions, as they called for lawmakers’ support for the passage of an act on the oversight of cross-strait agreements.

The protesters made the statement in response to remarks by Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏), who said that Ma is willing to meet with representatives of protesting students “without any preconditions” to help end the standoff over the cross-strait trade agreement and allow the legislature to get back on track.

Lee said Ma is willing to invite representatives of the protesters to the Presidential Office in Taipei to discuss the pact and listen to their views if it will help end the student-led occupation of the legislature that began on Tuesday last week.

Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), a National Taiwan University graduate student and one of the student leaders, said the protesters agreed to have a conversation with Ma without preconditions and proposed two questions that have attracted wide attention for the potential discussion between the two sides.

“The first question is whether there is a need for the institutionalization of the supervision of cross-strait agreements, and the second is whether such a supervision mechanism needs to be in place before reviewing the cross-strait service trade agreement,” Lin said.

Lin added that the students are willing to converse with Ma “in a public setting” and to discuss “in concrete terms” the questions mentioned.

“By the time we get there to have the conversation, we will not want to take extra time to give him a lecture,” Lin said.

Another student leader, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a graduate student at National Tsing Hua University, said that the conversation should not be a private one that can be heard only by the representatives, but one that is open to public witness.

The protest leaders and civil group representatives said that the minutes of the latest legislative meeting on March 17, made public yesterday, showed that the review of the trade pact, which according to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers has been completed, was not documented.

It means that the issue has been returned to the legislature’s Internal Administrative Committee pending further discussion, the group said.

“We ask the government not to hold any negotiations with the Chinese government until the institutionalization of the supervision of cross-strait agreements. The trade pact must be returned to the Executive Yuan until such institutionalization is completed,” Chen said.

The group called on legislators to promise to respond to their three requests.

“Our first request is that the legalization of a ‘cross-strait agreement oversight act’ be initiated during this legislative plenary session. The second is that any reviews of cross-strait agreements be held off until legislation is finalized. And finally, that the bill be placed on the legislature’s Procedure Committee agenda,” Chen said.

Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), a research fellow at Academia Sinica, said that the call is “aimed at each legislator rather than only at the party caucus.”

While some, mainly the media, have been asking what the protesters’ “exit strategy” is, Lin said: “It is president Ma who needs to have an ‘exit strategy.’”

 University groups call for strike

BOYCOTT:More than 45 groups have backed the call, with some professors speaking out in support, though the education minister called for students to return to classes

By Chen Yi-ching, Tan Chia-ling and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Students yesterday hold placards and banners on the National Taiwan University campus in Taipei urging fellow students to boycott classes and join the ongoing protest against the cross-strait service trade agreement.

Photo: CNA

Decrying the strong-arm tactics used by police against protesters early yesterday morning in Taipei, the National Taiwan University (NTU) students’ association backed a call by protest leaders Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) for a nationwide “strike.”

As of press time yesterday, more than 45 student groups, totaling 3,000 students from 18 universities — including National Tsing Hua University, National Chengchi University, National Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University — had joined the strike call.

“The government not only failed to respond to the public’s demands, but also took inappropriate measures to attack students, violently suppress them, hurt the country’s backbone and trample on basic human rights,” the NTU group said about the crackdown on the protesters who tried to occupy the Executive Yuan on Sunday night.

The statement called for a “strike” on four fronts: putting classes on hold so that students can join protests; holding classes on-site at the protests; teacher support for students’ decision to protest and leniency for those students participating in the demonstrations.

Ko Chih-che (柯志哲), the head of NTU’s sociology department, also issued a statement of support.

The focus of the department’s education and research is on civic participation, procedural justice and social equality, Ko said, adding that: “The department is supportive of all student-organized strikes as long as personal safety is taken into consideration, and it encourages any methods to understand or participate in the development of relevant proceedings.”

NTU Secretary-General Lin Ta-te (林達德) said the university is primarily concerned with the rights of education and the school’s normal operations and procedures.

While strikes are not the best solution to resolving the conflict, if all of the proceedings are in accordance with students’ rights of education and other Ministry of Education regulations, the university would respect any decision to reschedule or relocate classes, Lin said.

Meanwhile, Wang Hung-jen (王宏仁), a sociology professor at National Sun Yat-en University in Greater Kaohsiung, criticized President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for remaining behind barricades and being unwilling to emerge to communicate with the public.

“The department’s teachers are willing to stand by our students in this most precious ‘democracy class,’” Wang said.

Wang said the department decided to suspend all courses until the siege has wound down, at which time it would offer make-up classes.

Students in the department have voted to join the strike.

Taipei Medical University’s administration said that students skipping classes to take part in the protests would not be counted as absent.

Other schools are being more cautious in their support.

Lan Yang Institute of Technology dean Lin Chiang-lung (林江龍) said the school would neither support its students’ participation in the protests, but would not try to block them. Those students who want to participate would have to talk with their teachers to call in an absence, he said.

Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) appealed to students to remain calm and for teachers at the site of protests to persuade student demonstrators to return to classes.

The ministry does not support student strikes, Chiang said, adding that the rights to education should be maintained for everyone.