Taipei: Members of the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union have staged protests against the upcoming meeting of President Ma Ying-jeou with Chinese President Xi Jingping on Saturday in Singapore, the media reported on Friday.
More than 40 TSU members protested outside the president’s residence on Thursday evening, shouting slogans airing their disapproval of the first cross-straits summit since 1949, Taiwan News reported. “We refuse the selling out of Taiwan by the Ma-Xi meeting,” the members screamed.
Three or four motorcyclists wearing the trademark TSU jackets arrived at another gate to the presidential compound carrying protest banners and placards, reports said. Ever since the news of the Ma-Xi summit, police around government buildings have been on high alert, ready to prevent large-scale protests or occupations.
On Wednesday afternoon, TSU supporters threw smoke bombs on Ketagalan Boulevard, the wide tree-lined avenue leading to the Presidential Office building. President Ma is planning to leave Taiwan for Singapore on Saturday afternoon. His meeting with Xi at the city state’s Shangri-La Hotel would start at 3.00 p.m.
