[外媒] Taiwan Students End Parliament Sit-in
http://tinyurl.com/ljwvt3l
April 10, 2014
Taiwan Students End Parliament Sit-in
by Ralph Jennings
Hundreds of students who have occupied Taiwan's parliament since March
18 are calling off their unusually aggressive protest. The decision
to quit follows parliament speaker Wang Jin-pyng's promise Sunday to
hold off on a contested China trade deal until an oversight bill is
passed. He also pledged to later open legislative discussions on the
trade deal.
Hsu An, a 21-year-old protester just off military duty, was among
those occupying parliament's north gate.
He said he thinks the timing of the departure is just right. "We can't
stay," Hsu explained, because Taiwan has a lot of things that need to
pass legislative review, so to keep on occupying parliament is quite
irrational. But he added that if there's another chance and he's
directed by another protest leader, he would like to step out to
demonstrate again.
Hsu's movement had demanded that parliament drop the fast-track
ratification of a trade pact with China. The occupation later
escalated with the break-in of Taiwan's cabinet offices and a
300,000-strong street demonstration. Protesters were then asking
President Ma Ying-jeou to scrap and redo the pact in a more
transparent way. Negotiators had signed the deal in June.
China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and has threatened
military force to bring the two sides together. Some in Taiwan fear
China will use trade deals to lure the island into reunification.
Since Ma took office in 2008, his government has signed 20 agreements
with China to bolster Taiwan's economy. Officials say the service
trade pact will lift Taiwan's vast service sector, including banks
and healthcare.
The protest has prompted cabinet officials to review the way they
communicate with the public. The premier's spokesman Sun Lih-chyun
told a news conference the government did not initially grasp what
protesters wanted and then acted too late to influence them.
Sun thinks a big problem arose from the way the government
communicates with its friends. Sun says there was an obvious
underestimation and that leaders also failed to grasp the timing. He
added that once the big problem was discovered, the government could
not get itself on track.
Protesters leaving parliament Thursday in their signature black
shirts, a symbol of poor transparency, and bearing sunflowers
signaled they will stay politically active. Some may give public
speeches or hold forums to challenge trade relations with China while
others draft plans for a mass street demonstration.
http://www.voanews.com/content/taiwan-students-end-parliament-sitin-following-assurances-on-china-trade-deal/1890266.html
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