Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

HK pro-democracy ‘black cloth’ march draws thousands

Taipei Times

Supporters of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement march during a protest in Hong Kong yesterday.
Photo: EPA

Thousands of pro-democracy activists clad in black marched silently through Hong Kong yesterday, holding banners saying they felt betrayed and angry at Beijing’s refusal to allow fully democratic elections for the territory’s next chief executive in 2017.

The protesters, who carried enormous black cloth ribbons through the streets, also held up signs calling for further civil disobedience and cheering on students planning to boycott classes.

US may try to sway vote: ex-AIT head

Taipei Times

Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Richard Bush on Friday said that the US was likely to try to “influence” Taiwan’s 2016 presidential elections.

While he did not speculate about what might happen, Bush indicated that Washington would declare a preference for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate because there were lingering doubts about the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) cross-strait policies.

Ma’s childish hide-and-seek tactics

Taipei Times Editorial

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has touted consistency as one of his guiding principles in governance, even though he has time and again shown inconsistency in his commitments to the nation. Except, however, when it comes to the manner in which his administration deals with the public when conducting cross-strait negotiations — the government has been consistent in shunning public oversight by continually choosing to hold cross-strait negotiations behind closed doors.

Taiwan and China on Wednesday began the ninth round of talks on a trade in goods agreement. Likely due to concerns over protests, the government has kept the talks secret by refusing to disclose the location of the three-day meeting.

Ma deaf to HK’s call to democracy

The Liberty Times Editorial

ON Aug. 31, China revealed its political reform plan for Hong Kong — which was really an anti-political reform plan. The plan has met with strong opposition in Hong Kong and attracted a lot of attention in the international media. Despite the close relationship between President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government and Beijing, the government’s response to China’s so-called political reform plan — similar to its response to the alleged secrecry leaks by former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) — was slow and inappropriate.

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