‘WU, GO TO HELL’:Officials initially told protesters Wu did not have time to meet them. When he did appear, he would not say if he would withdraw the guidelines
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 01, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Talks between student activists and Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) broke down
A student leader, front center, declares the breakdown of negotiations with Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa, center back, yesterday in Taipei. Photo: CNA
yesterday, after Wu refused to agree to withdraw controversial adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines and step down.
“We never would have guessed that there would be a minister of education who cannot even answer an elementary true-or-false question,” student leader Liao Chung-lun (廖崇倫) of Taichung First Senior High School said. “He isn’t able to tell us whether curriculum guidelines will be withdrawn — he is only able to thank us for our opinions, a phrase we are fed up with hearing.”
The “fine-tuned” guidelines’ allegedly “China-centric” focus has sparked waves of student protests.
Wu appeared at the Ministry of Education building’s entrance early in the afternoon, advancing through ranks of police officers. He called for a moment of silence for student activist Dai Lin (林冠華) before falling back behind police officers to address the crowd gathered in the ministry’s outer courtyard. [FULL STORY]
