Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

No link between dispute, joining TPP: US official

Taipei Times

The current dispute over the cross-strait service trade agreement would not negatively affect the US’ position on Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesman Mark Zimmer said.

The student-led protest opposing the government’s rushed handling of the pact’s legislative review and the lack of an oversight mechanism has sparked concerns among Taipei officials that negotiations with China on trade in goods would be disrupted, causing Beijing to block the nation’s efforts to take part in regional economic integration, including the TPP.

Lessons learnt as siege ends

Taipei Times Editorial

The student-led Sunflower movement’s occupation of the legislative chamber is set to end peacefully this evening. The fact that an almost revolutionary campaign is to end peacefully and without bloodshed is a sign of the maturity and rationality of Taiwan’s democracy.

The campaign may have ended, but Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) has said that the students’ occupation of the legislative chamber and the Executive Yuan were illegal and must be investigated. The students knew that they were breaking the law and they are not trying to evade legal accountability.

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.

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