President Ma Ying-jeou has refused to talk to the protestors occupying the legislature.
According to the Presidential Office on Saturday, President Ma is always willing to hold dialogues with civic groups. But the office said the president will not accept the demand for dialogue made by the protestors. It said the president will only talk to the protestors after they have left the legislature. The protestors, mostly students, have been occupying the legislature since Tuesday night.
The trade in services agreement was signed last June, but has failed to clear the legislature. The protestors said there is a lack of transparency in the review of the agreement. They also criticized a ruling Kuomintang lawmaker, saying that he tried to speed up the passage of the agreement in the legislature without a clause-by-clause review, as was stated in a cross-party understanding.