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| Concession Offered, Taiwan Group to End Protest of China Trade Pact | Concession Offered, Taiwan Group to End Protest of China Trade Pact |
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| TAIPEI, Taiwan — Yang Shih-wei admits he is an unlikely opponent of a trade deal with China. A 27-year-old Taiwanese banker who spent a year working at a trading company in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, he has seen firsthand how quickly Taiwan’s giant neighbor is growing. And he says that if Taiwan wants to compete economically, it cannot shun China. | TAIPEI, Taiwan — Yang Shih-wei admits he is an unlikely opponent of a trade deal with China. A 27-year-old Taiwanese banker who spent a year working at a trading company in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, he has seen firsthand how quickly Taiwan’s giant neighbor is growing. And he says that if Taiwan wants to compete economically, it cannot shun China. |
| “I’ve been to China and have seen how fast they’re expanding,” he said. “I think in order for Taiwan to catch up, of course we have to cooperate with them.” | “I’ve been to China and have seen how fast they’re expanding,” he said. “I think in order for Taiwan to catch up, of course we have to cooperate with them.” |
| Yet China is not any other country. It has long claimed Taiwan as a part of its territory, and that has made many Taiwanese suspicious of efforts to quickly approve a service trade pact, which would open up dozens of industries to cross-straits investment. Resistance to the deal in Taiwan signals that China’s strategy of wooing the island through strengthening economic ties may be reaching its limits. | Yet China is not any other country. It has long claimed Taiwan as a part of its territory, and that has made many Taiwanese suspicious of efforts to quickly approve a service trade pact, which would open up dozens of industries to cross-straits investment. Resistance to the deal in Taiwan signals that China’s strategy of wooing the island through strengthening economic ties may be reaching its limits. |
| Semi-governmental bodies from both sides signed the agreement last June, but its ratification has faced strong opposition in Taiwan’s legislature. On March 18, a day after lawmakers from Taiwan’s governing party, the Kuomintang, pushed the deal out of committee to the legislative floor, about 200 hundred activists, most of them college students, stormed the legislature and occupied it until they finally announced Monday that they would leave this week. | |
| During the sit-in, posters espousing nonviolence and denouncing President Ma Ying-jeou’s handling of the trade pact covered the walls of the legislative chamber. A portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China, was surrounded by a handwritten tally of how many hours the students had occupied the legislature. | During the sit-in, posters espousing nonviolence and denouncing President Ma Ying-jeou’s handling of the trade pact covered the walls of the legislative chamber. A portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China, was surrounded by a handwritten tally of how many hours the students had occupied the legislature. |
| The protesters agreed on Monday to end the sit-in, a decision that came a day after the legislature’s speaker, Wang Jin-pyng, visited the occupied chamber and offered a key concession. He said that a bill that would allow lawmakers to have closer oversight of agreements with China should be approved before the legislature resumed consideration of the trade pact. As speaker, Mr. Wang is responsible for convening meetings between parties, a powerful tool in organizing the legislative agenda. | |
| “Many people asked, If you leave this place, won’t you lose your bargaining chip?” said Chen Wei-ting, one of the student leaders, at a news conference announcing the end of the occupation. “The truth is, everything we’ve said and all our energy has allowed this to spread from a student movement to a movement of all the people.” | |
| In an interview during the sit-in, Lin Fei-fan, another student leader, said, “There’s never been an occupy movement of this scale here. This is a first in Taiwan, to occupy a public building like this.” | In an interview during the sit-in, Lin Fei-fan, another student leader, said, “There’s never been an occupy movement of this scale here. This is a first in Taiwan, to occupy a public building like this.” |
| Mr. Lin, 25, a graduate student in political science at National Taiwan University, accused the Kuomintang of not listening to voters by reneging on its pledge to conduct an item-by-item review of the trade pact. “That’s why we had to come and occupy the legislature, because it’s stopped representing the people,” he said. | Mr. Lin, 25, a graduate student in political science at National Taiwan University, accused the Kuomintang of not listening to voters by reneging on its pledge to conduct an item-by-item review of the trade pact. “That’s why we had to come and occupy the legislature, because it’s stopped representing the people,” he said. |
| When some of the demonstrators tried to expand the protest to occupy the main government administrative building on March 23, riot police forcibly removed them. More than 150 people were injured after officers moved in, swinging batons and spraying protesters with streams of water. | When some of the demonstrators tried to expand the protest to occupy the main government administrative building on March 23, riot police forcibly removed them. More than 150 people were injured after officers moved in, swinging batons and spraying protesters with streams of water. |
| While many protesters and their supporters say they oppose the trade deal outright, others endorse some form of a service trade pact with China. The most widely held complaint is that the agreement has been hurried along with little opportunity for public review. Protesters call the government’s methods a “black box” and have named their campaign the Sunflower Movement, a reference to sunlight and transparency. | While many protesters and their supporters say they oppose the trade deal outright, others endorse some form of a service trade pact with China. The most widely held complaint is that the agreement has been hurried along with little opportunity for public review. Protesters call the government’s methods a “black box” and have named their campaign the Sunflower Movement, a reference to sunlight and transparency. |
| They accuse Mr. Ma, who has used his six years in office to promote deeper economic ties with China, of not fully addressing suspicions over the deal. And they say that any agreement with China must be handled with the highest levels of scrutiny and transparency. | |
| “The general public is afraid of signing anything with China, especially without being fully informed,” said Mr. Yang, the banker, who joined as many as 500,000 people who took to the streets of Taipei on March 30. “We’re not against trading with China. We are afraid of China taking over our country.” | “The general public is afraid of signing anything with China, especially without being fully informed,” said Mr. Yang, the banker, who joined as many as 500,000 people who took to the streets of Taipei on March 30. “We’re not against trading with China. We are afraid of China taking over our country.” |
| After the Communist forces led by Mao Zedong won China’s civil war in 1949, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan with his defeated Kuomintang armies. Mr. Chiang’s state, the Republic of China, proclaimed itself as the rightful ruler of the mainland, just as the People’s Republic of China laid claim to Taiwan. As Taiwan began to democratize in the 1980s and 1990s, long-stifled calls for independence emerged. | After the Communist forces led by Mao Zedong won China’s civil war in 1949, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan with his defeated Kuomintang armies. Mr. Chiang’s state, the Republic of China, proclaimed itself as the rightful ruler of the mainland, just as the People’s Republic of China laid claim to Taiwan. As Taiwan began to democratize in the 1980s and 1990s, long-stifled calls for independence emerged. |
| China’s response to those aspirations has often been threats. It fired missiles over the Taiwan Strait in 1995 and 1996 in response to President Lee Teng-hui’s increasingly vocal support for Taiwanese identity. During the 2000-08 presidency of Chen Shui-bian, Chinese officials and state media frequently denounced his pro-independence line, and in 2005 China passed an anti-secession law that called for the use of force in the event of a formal declaration of Taiwan’s independence. | China’s response to those aspirations has often been threats. It fired missiles over the Taiwan Strait in 1995 and 1996 in response to President Lee Teng-hui’s increasingly vocal support for Taiwanese identity. During the 2000-08 presidency of Chen Shui-bian, Chinese officials and state media frequently denounced his pro-independence line, and in 2005 China passed an anti-secession law that called for the use of force in the event of a formal declaration of Taiwan’s independence. |
| With the election in 2008 of Mr. Ma, who favors much closer ties with China, the two sides began signing a range of economic agreements including the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010. Trade nearly doubled during Mr. Ma’s six years in office, to $197 billion last year. While Chinese visitors were once a rarity, nearly three million Chinese traveled to Taiwan last year, their groups crowding attractions like the Taipei 101 skyscraper and Chiang Kai-shek’s mausoleum. | |
| The service agreement would open 80 Chinese industries to investment from Taiwan, while 64 would open up on Taiwan’s side, which Mr. Ma said was a sign that China was sacrificing more in the deal. He cited research that said the deal would provide 12,000 jobs and increase service industry exports by $394 million, less than a quarter of total two-way trade last year. | |
| He says that Taiwan has fallen behind regional rivals like South Korea, and that a failure to approve the service trade pact would impinge on Taiwan’s ability to enter other economic agreements, like the American-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. | He says that Taiwan has fallen behind regional rivals like South Korea, and that a failure to approve the service trade pact would impinge on Taiwan’s ability to enter other economic agreements, like the American-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. |
| But the push for deeper economic links with China touches sensitive concerns in Taiwan. | But the push for deeper economic links with China touches sensitive concerns in Taiwan. |
| “The greater the trade amounts from the two sides, the greater concern of the general public about China becomes,” said Huang Kwei-bo, an associate professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University, who served as a policy adviser during Mr. Ma’s presidential campaign. “I think it’s very clear: Mainland China has tried very hard to buy Taiwan, to win the support of Taiwan’s people economically. But I don’t think that strategy really works.” | |
| Rather than feeling closer to the mainland, the sense of Chinese identity on Taiwan seems to be declining. According to polls by National Chengchi University’s Election Survey Center that examine whether people in Taiwan consider themselves Taiwanese, Chinese or both, the percentage that identified as Taiwanese has shot up under Mr. Ma’s presidency, reaching 57 percent at the end of last year. | Rather than feeling closer to the mainland, the sense of Chinese identity on Taiwan seems to be declining. According to polls by National Chengchi University’s Election Survey Center that examine whether people in Taiwan consider themselves Taiwanese, Chinese or both, the percentage that identified as Taiwanese has shot up under Mr. Ma’s presidency, reaching 57 percent at the end of last year. |
| “I think the Chinese government has to worry about this kind of trend,” said Tung Chen-yuan, an expert on cross-strait ties at the university. | “I think the Chinese government has to worry about this kind of trend,” said Tung Chen-yuan, an expert on cross-strait ties at the university. |
| “The bottom line is that if the same deal was between Taiwan and pretty much any other country in the world it wouldn’t be a problem,” said Jonathan Sullivan, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham’s School of Contemporary Chinese Studies. “But Taiwan’s relationship with China is unlike any other in the world. And depending on who you talk to, China is Taiwan’s only way to peace and prosperity or an existential threat.” |