Anger Grows in Taiwan Against Deal With China

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/world/asia/anger-grows-in-taiwan-against-deal-with-china.html

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Demonstrators who have occupied Taiwan’s legislature since last week expanded their protest of a trade deal with China on Sunday evening by invading the government building nearby that houses the offices of the prime minister.

The protesters, including many students from local universities, have accused President Ma Ying-jeou and his allies in the governing Kuomintang of forcing through the trade measure without allowing a review of its details, which they fear will give Beijing too much influence over the island’s economy.

“I’m very angry at President Ma,” said Shiu Rung-kai, 21, a student at National Hsinchu University of Education who joined thousands of protesters inside the government compound.

By early Monday morning the police had cleared demonstrators from the government building, detaining dozens, according to local news media reports, although hundreds of protesters remained in the courtyard outside.

Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah said the intrusion was an “illegal and violent act,” Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported, citing a cabinet spokesman.

Police officers were seen swinging wooden clubs to clear protesters from the road behind the building. At least 70 were injured, the news agency reported.

Earlier Sunday, the student leaders occupying the legislature called for a bipartisan “citizens constitutional conference” and for sending the trade pact to committee for further review.

The pact, which was signed by semiofficial organizations from Taiwan and China in June 2013, opens up a wide range of service industry fields to cross-strait investment. It has raised concerns that local businesses will suffer, and that Taiwan will fall further under the influence of China, which considers the self-governed island part of its territory.

In a news conference Sunday morning, Mr. Ma said that legislative approval of the pact was important for Taiwan’s economic competitiveness, and that rejecting the deal would threaten Taiwan’s ability to sign trade accords with other countries. Taiwan faces higher average duties on its exports than regional competitors like South Korea, Japan and Singapore, the president said.

Regional economic integration is “an unstoppable global trend,” he said. “If we do not face this and join in the process, it will only be a matter of time before we are eliminated from the competition.”

While Taipei is used to seeing large protests, an extended occupation of the legislative chambers is unprecedented.

“He hasn’t really responded to our questions,” Hao Chang-cheng, a 21-year-old junior at the National Taipei University of Technology, said after Mr. Ma’s news conference. The students seem likely to continue their occupation of the legislature.

“I feel like we must keep continuing on,” Mr. Hao said.