Premier Jiang Yi-huah has met with student protestors who have been occupying the legislature for five days. It is the first time that the government has talked to the protestors.
The premier arrived outside the legislature Saturday afternoon to talk to student leader Lin Fei-fan. The students demanded that the government retract the controversial trade in services agreement with China. They also demanded that the legislature pass a law during this legislative session that will scrutinize agreements with China.
In response, the premier said the Cabinet has no plan to take back the agreement. He said the government believes that the agreement is beneficial to Taiwan, which is why the Cabinet sent it to the legislature for review. But he said that the government supports a close item-by-item review of the cross-strait pact.
On the issue of a law that scrutinizes agreements with China, the premier said the ruling Kuomintang has proposed a mechanism to monitor any future cross-strait agreements.
The dialogue between the two sides lasted no more than 10 minutes. The meeting ended with the premier being asked to leave.