President Ma reaching out to media hostile towards him

So far, Ma has granted an interview with the pro-independence Liberty Times and arrangements have been made for him to be interviewed by Formosa TV tomorrow, the official Central News Agency reported yesterday.

Formosa TV was founded by DPP lawmaker Trong Chai of FAPA fame.

FAPA is the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Taiwan lobby in the United States, blacklisted by the previous Kuomintang government. Another interview will be awarded Sanlih TV cable news channel, the CNA said. “It has been scheduled for the end of this year,” it added. Sanlih has a popular talk show program that never fails to fire a broadside at President Ma for all the “wrong” policies, particularly those on relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Ma began to reach out to the Liberty Times after he came under fire for government blunders in providing security for Chen Yunlin, China’s top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, and his delegation on their visit to Taipei.

He was also condemned for denigrating the sovereignty of the country by meeting Chen at the Government Guest House in Taipei on November 6. College students who call themselves “Wild Strawberries” have continued their sit-in at the Liberty Plaza in the heart of Taipei since November 7 when Chen and his delegates wound up their four-day stay and left for Beijing.

The Wild Strawberries demand President Ma and his premier Liu Chao-shiuan apologize for the police brutality in bloody clashes with DPP protesters while the Chen delegation was in Taipei. They call on Wang Chuo-chun to quit as director-general of the National Police Agency to take responsibility.

The president was satisfied with his Liberty Times interview, the official news service said, adding: “That’s why he is trying to talk to audiences of the two hostile TV networks.”

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