MCLC: protesters occupy Taiwan legislature

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: protesters occupy Taiwan legislature
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Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (3/19/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/opponents-of-china-trade-dea
l-occupy-taiwans-legislature/

Opponents of China Trade Deal Occupy Taiwan’s Legislature
By AUSTIN RAMZY

Hundreds of people have occupied Taiwan’s legislature to protest a trade
deal with China that they fear will give Beijing too much influence over
the island’s economy.

The protesters, including many students from local universities, stormed
into the legislature around 9 p.m. Tuesday, holding up banners that
accused President Ma Ying-jeou and his allies in the governing Kuomintang
party of forcing through the measure without allowing a review of its
details.

The measure, which drops barriers on service trades, is a follow-up accord
to the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Beijing and
Taipei. The services agreement has raised concerns in Taiwan that it will
harm local businesses.

China considers self-governed Taiwan, to which Chiang Kai-shek’s
Nationalist forces retreated after losing a civil war to the Communists in
1949, to be part of its territory that must eventually be reunified.

The demonstrators said they had occupied the legislative assembly hall to
protest a trade act that would “forfeit Taiwan’s future,” according to a
statement <https://www.facebook.com/antiblacktw/posts/616812361722942>
posted on Facebook. The police had tried unsuccessfully to oust the
protesters late Tuesday night.

Outside the legislature Wednesday morning, hundreds more demonstrators
listened to speeches, while police officers with riot shields blocked the
front entrance and workers installed barbed-wire barriers around
surrounding buildings.

“I feel at this point it might be a little bit too late, but if we don’t
have this kind of activity, then we won’t be able to let the government
hear the voice of the people,” said Chen Ying-yu, a 25-year-old hospital
worker. She joined the protesters outside the legislature before starting
her shift on Wednesday.

“If we decide that our future is only in trading with China, then we will
just restrict ourselves,” said Huang Pei-hao, 20, a junior at Fo Guang
University, who spoke to a group of demonstrators outside the legislature.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party accused the Kuomintang of
breaking an agreement to conduct an itemized review of the trade pact. The
Kuomintang responded on Wednesday that the move was necessary because
D.P.P. legislators had tried to block official business. “The D.P.P. is
encouraging people to use unreasonable behavior to voice their opinion and
this should be severely condemned,” read a statement posted on the
Kuomintang’s website.

Under the agreement the two sides would lower barriers on cross-strait
investment in dozens of fields including health care, finance and
insurance. The D.P.P. said it would fight approval of the deal, but it
lacked the votes to thwart the Kuomintang, which holds 65 of 113
legislative seats, versus 40 for the D.P.P.

An opinion poll <http://www.tisr.com.tw/?p=3940#more-3940> released last
week by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research found that 44.5 percent of
respondents opposed the trade deal, while 32.8 percent supported it and
22.9 percent did not respond. A majority, 73.7 percent, said they endorsed
a line-item review of the agreement.