Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Sunflowers bloom; dictators dig in

Liberty Times Editorial

The Nine-percent President (Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九) has attempted to discredit the Sunflower movement and to weaken the opposition’s voice, but there is no denying that in Taiwan’s history of democratic movements a record was created when 500,000 people, labeled the “black-clad army,” took to the streets of Taipei on March 30 in protest against the cross-strait service trade agreement.

In addition to setting a new record for the number of protesters in a rally, the demonstration was backed by 80 percent of the public. This shows Ma has lost the legitimacy required for a president and if he does not start listening to the public, he will have to step down.

Pact laced with China’s ambitions

Eric Chiou 邱奕宏

From various perspectives, the Sunflower movement led by Taiwanese students has created a monument in the nation’s democratic history. In response to the unprecedented rally, which involved hundreds of thousands of people peacefully gathering on Sunday last week to protest against the cross-strait service trade agreement, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration reluctantly consented to some of the students’ appeals and released an oversight bill to monitor future agreements with China.

Nevertheless, an incompatible divergence between the students and the government has not been defused, since this oversight draft will not apply to the service trade pact, which is the focus of discord between the protesters and the government.

Wang vows monitoring law before pact

Taipei Times

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, center, greets protesters while visiting the Legislative Yuan with lawmakers from both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) promised yesterday to enact a law monitoring Taiwan’s pacts with China before the legislature reviews the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement.

The move was welcomed by the student activists, but they have yet to decide whether to withdraw from the legislative compound.

Wang made the announcement during a high-profile visit to the student protesters on the occupied legislative chamber, but prior to entering the room, he held a press conference saying that he has never shunned the responsibility for mediating the conflicts between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the pact’s handling.

Signing of trade pact not imperative

Taipei Times Editorial

In the nine months since the cross-strait service trade pact was signed, the government has repeatedly stressed that the Legislative Yuan must ratify the agreement as soon as possible for two key reasons: a delay would hurt the nation’s credibility in the international community and benefit South Korea, Taiwan’s main export rival, because it is negotiating a free-trade pact (FTA) of its own with Beijing.

Those two arguments seem to have been ignored by the pact’s critics, who have largely focused their ire on the damage to the nation’s economy and public livelihoods the pact would cause and the risks to the nation’s democratic way of life posed by becoming more closely linked to China.

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