Taiwan Communiqué Published by: Formosan Association for Public Affairs 552 7th St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 Tel. (202) 547-3686 International edition, April / May 2014 Published 5 times a year ISSN number: 1027-3999 146 Taiwan’s Sunflower Revolution Historic protest for democracy and a free future The 18th March 2014 will go into Taiwan’s history as a momentous day: on that date, several hundred students from universities around Taiwan entered the country’s legislature, the Legislative Yuan, and occupied the main chamber. The immediate reason was that on the previous day, a KMT chairman of a committee charged with reviewing the proposed Service Trade Agreement with China, which had been signed on 21 June 2013, abruptly decided that the “review” had been completed, without even one minute of deliberations. Photo: AFP The chairman, legislator Chang Ching-chung, sent the legislation to the plenary session of the legislature, where it would be passed by an up-or-down vote without further discussion. This move infuriated many in Taiwan’s society whose livelihood would be affected by the influx from China, and prompted the students to take action. On the following pages we present a summary account of Students in the Legislative Yuan during their occupa- the events, and also give tion from 18 March through 10 April 2014 Taiwan Communiqué -2- April / May 2014 underlying reasons for the protests: why are the students and so many others in Taiwan society upset and angry about the moves by the Ma Ying-jeou government? We also discuss the implications of the protest for both domestic politics in Taiwan (elections are coming up in 2014 and 2016), and for cross-Strait relations. Peaceful occupation of Legislative Yuan The occupation of the Legislative Yuan by the students prompted immediate expressions of support from many segments of society: During the same evening many people came to the legislature to form a “human wall” to protect the students, while a number of DPP legislators positioned themselves between the police outside and the students inside in order to prevent a forced eviction. Copyright: Taipei Times During the night of 18 March 2014, the police attempted to push their way into the legislative chamber three or four times, but were pushed back by students who had barricaded the eight entrances with chairs. During the next few days, the students settled in, and became the focus of attention of the Taiwan and international media, with publications such "Student protest dove" blocking the cross-Strait as Wall Street Journal, New Service Trade Pact gun York Times, Businessweek, Bloomberg and CNN publishing more than one article each about the developments. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, who had a major run-in with President Ma Ying-jeou in the Constitutional Crisis in September 2013 over wiretapping of his telephone conversations, played a constructive role by reaching out to both sides, and by attempting to reach an agreement. Wang also insisted that no force be used to clear the legislative chamber. However, by the week’s end it became clear that the government was not going to budge: on Saturday 22 March 2014, Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah rejected the students’ concerns Taiwan Communiqué -3- April / May 2014 and stated that government would continue to push for passage of the agreement with China, and that the agreement would not be renegotiated. On Sunday 23 March 2014, President Ma himself gave an impromptu press conference to the international press where he labeled the students’ actions “illegal” and called for an immediate passage of the highly unpopular trade agreement, completely disregarding the cause of the protest. Police violence at Executive Yuan This uncompromising stance by the Ma government prompted a separate group of some 60 students to decide to enter the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) offices, just a few blocks away from the legislature, and at 7:35 pm in the evening of 23 March this group climbed barricades and a wall surrounding the Executive Yuan compound. A number of them climbed through a window into the building, made themselves comfortable in a lounge on the second floor, and helped themselves to some “Taiyang bing” (a popular Taiwanese cake) in the fridge. The damage to lamps, chairs, furniture etc. occurred later when the heavily-armed riot police moved in and used a major amount of violence to remove these Photo: Reuters students. When they exited at a side door at Tianjin St, many of the students were limping or stumbling, some falling and needing to be helped out or nursing their injured arms, legs or their heads. Some looked dis-orientated and very distressed, much more so than one might expect if they had simply been plucked from that group inside seated with interlocking arms on the red carpet. Riot police using water cannon at student protest at Executive Yuan A courageous group of lawyers were there — in their white court robes — to meet with the students as they were led out of the building in ones or twos. The lawyers later reported that the students had been beaten severely by the riot police. Taiwan Communiqué -4- April / May 2014 In the meantime, a much larger group had remained outside the building, but inside the walled compound. They opened the gate and let supporters in. Soon there were some 3,000 protesters within the compound. They sat on the ground with interlocked arms, singing songs. Photo: Taipei Times However, at around 10:30 pm a force of around 500 riot police with sticks and shields arrived. When the police received further reinforcements by midnight, they started to move in on the peaceful crowd, hitting people with batons. Hundreds of students and bystanders were hurt, and dozens of them were rushed to hospitals. Later on in the night, police also used water cannons in their efforts to dispel the crowd. Sunflower students protesting in the rain By early Monday morning, most of the crowd within the compound had been cleared, but more than 10,000 people remained on the streets near the building. A funny follow-on story is that a deputy secretary general in the Executive Yuan complained on Monday 24 March 2014 that the students had eaten from his box of Taiyang bing and had left a cookie half eaten!! A local businessman immediately sent 150 boxes of replacement Taiyang bing, but they were not accepted by the hapless official. Videos and jokes about it were going viral in Taiwan. Seesaw negotiations In the subsequent days (March 25-28), a seesaw negotiation occurred between the presidential office and the leaders of the students still occupying the Legislative Yuan on whether, and how, a meeting could take place between president Ma and student leaders. The student leaders urged the president to: a. First propose and pass legislation governing the monitoring of negotiation and implementation of agreements with China. Taiwan Communiqué -5- April / May 2014 b. Then allow a clause-by-clause review of the Service Trade Agreement in the appropriate legislative committees, with a possibility to amend the text. This would require renegotiation of the agreement. c. Allow KMT legislators to make up their own mind on the specifics of the legislation without imposing party Copyright: Taipei Times discipline. d. Convene a constitutional conference dedicated to coming up with suggestions for improve- ment of governance and checks and balances. The present system is viewed by many as rather dysfunctional. President Ma did indicate he was willing to meet with the students, but the students felt that the proposal lacked KMT government negotiating with the student substance and sincerity. movement: "Take the olive branch" President Ma did then give a press conference on Saturday, March 29th, on the eve of the massive rally in front of the Presidential Office (see below). In the press conference Ma did make vague references to the monitoring mechanism and the constitutional conference (points a and d) but refused to budge on the crucial points, the Service Trade Agreement itself and party discipline (points b and c). Half a million people march in support A week later, on Sunday, 30 March 2014, student leaders had called for a rally in front of the presidential office in support of their campaign against the Service Trade Agreement with China. Hundreds of thousands responded: by the early afternoon some 350,000 people had flooded Ketagalan Boulevard and surrounding streets and by the end of the afternoon, the organizers estimated the crowd at 500,000, while some media outlets even had higher estimates. The organizers had speeches and music performances throughout the afternoon, and foreign observers at the scene said there was a festive atmosphere with sunflowers abounding throughout the crowd. Taiwan Communiqué -6- April / May 2014 On the same day, some 45 rallies were held in support of the students’ actions in some 16 countries around the world, including Paris, London, Berlin and Washington DC. The students in the Legislative Yuan had set up big screen videoconferencing with a number of these rallies abroad, including Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Australia. International media also extensively covered the events, including the New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg and others. A British visitor who happened to be in Taipei wrote the following impression: Photo: Reuters I did indeed get to today’s demonstration, which lived up to expectations of being a historical occasion in Taiwan History. Rather I became enveloped in it in the early afternoon. After skirting around the edges…. I soon found myself locked into the crowd, which extended almost as far as the eye could see in every Massive rally supporting the Sunflower student direction.