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Ma draws protests on
New York visit
UNWELCOME PARTY: As he hosted a dinner at a
hotel, dozens of demonstrators demanded the president ‘stop selling out Taiwan’
and ‘stop human rights oppression’
By Peng Hsien-chun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter in new York,
with staff writer
Taiwanese-Americans hold banners
as they protest against President Ma Ying-jeou as he hosted a dinner at the
Grand Hyatt New York on Sunday night in New York City.
Photo: Nadia Tsao, Taipei Times
Several dozen protesters gathered outside
the Grand Hyatt New York on Sunday night where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was
hosting a private dinner during a brief stopover in the metropolis while en
route to Paraguay.
The dinner was attended by members of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent
Association, Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) and Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang
(蔡國強).
Protest convener Lai Hong-tien (賴宏典), a dentist in the Manhattan area, said he
had been unaware of Ma’s visit until Friday, adding that the rally had been
hastily organized by a small number of people.
“We hadn’t expected to gather such a crowd,” Lai said, adding that he and his
fellow organizers had told police that about 15 people would attend.
The protesters held banners and signs bearing messages such as: “Stop selling
out Taiwan,” “Cease the oppression of human rights,” as well as other more
politically charged messages such as “Tear Down Dapu [Borough (大埔)] today, we’ll
overthrow the government tomorrow,” “Halt the construction of the Longmen
[Fourth] Nuclear Power Plant,” “Truth in the Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) incident,”
and a call for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Lai said that most overseas Taiwanese are unhappy with how Ma is governing the
nation, believing him to be deceitful, adding that they are especially worried
about the cross-strait trade service agreement, which many see as an
acceleration of Ma’s attempt to “sell out Taiwan.”
Despite the unexpected turnout, the New York Police Department officers
monitoring the demonstration did not intervene and allowed the protest to
continue.
Lai also criticized the Ma administration’s policy of pursuing a diplomatic
detente with China.
“I don’t know what Ma’s is afraid of,” Lai said, referring to what he sees as
Ma’s avoidance of Taiwanese organizations in lieu of close dealings with
China-oriented organizations in the US.
Since the Ma administration assumed power, it has never engaged “true
Taiwanese,” Lai said, adding that in contrast to how the Chen administration
helped give Taiwan an international voice and highlight its diplomatic
situation, the nation has been silenced under Ma’s reign.
Lai also panned Ma’s planned visit to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent
Association branch in New York’s Chinatown.
“There are no Taiwanese [in the association],” and it could be said that the
entire association has nothing to do with Taiwan, Lai said. “It seems that only
Chinese know of Ma’s itinerary.”
This was yet another example of how Ma only liaises with China-centric
organizations and completely failing to contact any “real Taiwanese”
compatriots, Lai said.
The association was founded in 1883 and was one of the earliest Chinese groups
in the US.
Ma was in New York on a transit stop en route to a five-nation diplomatic tour
that will cover Paraguay and Taiwan’s four allies in the Caribbean.
He was greeted by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt and
Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) at the John F. Kennedy
International Airport.
While in New York, Ma will meet US Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the US
House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, and ranking committee
member Eliot Engel
He is also scheduled to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
in the city and New York University, where he once studied.
He will stay in the city until tomorrow, before heading to Haiti, the first stop
of the tour.
From Haiti he will fly to Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Additional reporting by CNA
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