Changhua police clear way for Zhang

INTIMIDATION?Police ordered people eating nearby a temple Zhang was scheduled to visit to leave and a group of men beat one protester before the visit was canceled

By Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporter, in Greater Taichung

Men dressed in black are gathered outside Hui-ming School in Greater Taichung yesterday.

Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times

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Protesters against China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) yesterday said that police and “gangster-like people” tried to clear the way for Zhang’s planned arrival at Lukang Tianhou Temple in Changhua County by setting off firecrackers, using violence and ordering customers to leave nearby eateries.

Zhang was scheduled to attend a ceremony to install a statue of Matsu from a temple in Kunshan in China’s Jiangsu Province, which he promised last year to give to Changhua’s Tianhou Temple as a gift to Taiwan. The ceremony was canceled at the last minute.

The square in front of the temple and the nearby streets, which are a popular tourist destination, were packed at about noon with tourists, as well as protesters against Zhang.

People were asked by police officers to stay at a distance from the temple to allow clear passage for Zhang, who was scheduled to arrive at 1:50pm.

With a bloody face, a wound on his forehead and blood-stained clothing, Liang Po-chou (梁伯洲) told reporters at the square in front of the temple that he was assaulted by five or six people using steel blowpipes.

Liang said he was there with his father, Changhua County Councilor Liang Chen-hsiang (梁禎祥) of the Democratic Progressive Party, and other people trying to show Zhang posters with slogans against the cross-strait service trade agreement and slogans that the future of Taiwan is a matter for 23 million Taiwanese people to decide.

The “gangster-like people” began beating him when he was trying to argue with executive officers of the temple because he was angry that they asked staff to set off firecrackers on the streets in an attempt to disperse people who refused to leave, Liang said.

Reporters were notified at about 1:30pm that Zhang’s trip to the temple was canceled.

It followed the cancelation of two other stops scheduled earlier yesterday — a meeting with fishermen at Chienchen Fishing Port in Greater Kaohsiung and a visit to the Wufeng Lin Family Gardens (霧峰林家花園) in Greater Taichung, announced at 2:24am yesterday.

According to a source at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the council had a midnight meeting with Zhang after his informal gathering with MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) on Friday at the Sizihwan Sunset Beach Resort, where he was nearly splashed with paint by protesters, and decided to cancel the first two of yesterday’s activities.

Zhang visited the Hui-ming Elementary School for the Blind in Greater Taichung at noon, where he had a chat with Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), his only official meeting yesterday, before he headed to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

During his stay in Taiwan, men with gang tattoos wearing black were seen on many occasions — when he arrived at Taoyuan airport on Wednesday and visited New Taipei City, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung. They appeared in groups holding banners and chanting slogans to welcome him before his arrival at events.

Yesterday, outside the Hui-ming Elementary School for the Blind several dozen black-clad men gathered who said that they belonged to a cross-strait pigeon-lovers’ association.

They were called to move to Lukang Tianhou Temple after Zhang’s arrival at the school.

Zhang delivered a short speech at the school.

He said he made a wish when he was at Fo Guang Shan Monastery (佛光山) on Friday and that he hoped that both sides of the Strait can resolve long-term issues gradually with “wisdom and familial affection and jointly make contribution to revival of the [Zhonghua] Minzu [中華民族; Chinese ethnic group].”

Pro-independence groups oppose TAO official’s tour

‘DOUBLE STANDARD’:The groups said Zhang Zhijun’s visit comes at a bad time after the TAO’s recent remarks, and Ma was weak on China, but hawkish on other nations

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Representatives of pro-localization groups hold a press conference in Taipei yesterday, expressing their opposition to the planned visit by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun.

Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times

Pro-independence groups yesterday said that they opposed the upcoming nationwide “inspection tour” by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) and called for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to stop applying “double standards” to Taiwan’s engagement with China compared with other foreign countries.

“We have a three-point statement for recent political development. First, Taiwan’s future should be decided by its 23 million people and no one else. Second, Ma should stop his ‘double standards’ and, third, the itinerary of Zhang’s visit to Taiwan should follow conventional diplomatic practice,” Taiwan Society president Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) told a press conference.

Chang said the arrangement currently seemed to be an official from the central government inspecting local governments, rather than the conventional arrangement for a visiting foreign official.

The announcement was held jointly with representatives from Taiwan Society’s subsidiaries, including the Northern Taiwan Society, the Central Taiwan Society, the Southern Taiwan Society, the Taiwan East Society and the Taiwan Hakka Society.

Zhang is scheduled to visit Taiwan between Wednesday and Friday, and his trip includes visits to New Taipei City, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung, where he is expected to meet with government officials, local business leaders and young people in an attempt to understand more about the so-called “three-middles and the youth” — the middle-to-low-level income classes, residents of central and southern Taiwan, small and medium-sized enterprises, and young people.

Zhang is visiting at a “bad time” because of the TAO’s recent comment that Taiwan’s future should be decided by “all the Chinese people,” which had infuriated the people of Taiwan, Southern Taiwan Society vice president Chang Shun-fa (張順發) said.

Coming at a time when the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement and an oversight mechanism for all cross-strait negotiations await deliberation in the legislature, the objective of the visit was even more suspicious, Chang Shun-fa added.

“If Taiwan’s future is to be decided by all Chinese, I encourage the Chinese government to also include Hong Kong, Macau, Xinjiang and Tibet in the discussions,” Central Taiwan Society secretary-general Tung Chien-hung (董建宏) said.

Tung also called on Ma to stop applying “double standards” in his diplomatic dealings with Chin and other countries.

Citing the example of a dispute with Japan over an exhibition of National Palace Museum pieces in Tokyo, in which Ma had threatened to cancel the exhibition if Japan failed to resolve the dispute, Tung said Ma has always been hawkish and aggressive toward other countries and weak against China.

The groups urged Zhang to apologize for the TAO remarks about all Chinese people deciding Taiwan’s future and said they would stage protests against the official during his four-day stay.