SUNFLOWER REVIVAL:The activists said the Sunflower movement is not finished yet and that they are extremely anxious about where the DPP’s trade policy is going
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 16, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Sunflower movement activists yesterday threatened to escalate protests if the
Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang, second right, Sunflower movement leader Lin Fei-fan, center, and other campaigners yesterday make demands in Taipei related to the cross-strait agreement oversight bill. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refuses to engage in open debate over “supervisory articles” for negotiations with China, demanding that the party address flaws in its proposed draft legislation.
Protesters from about 20 civic groups gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan’s front gate, shouting their rejection of “fake” legislative supervision of negotiations with China.
“The Sunflower movement is not finished yet — we are extremely anxious about where DPP trade policy is going,” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, adding that premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) promised to move forward with the cross-strait service trade agreement and trade in goods agreement.
Lai’s organization spearheaded early opposition to the service trade agreement, which culminated in the Legislative Yuan being surrounded by protesters for three weeks during 2014’s Sunflower movement, after the main legislative chamber was occupied by student activists. Passing supervisory regulations to address opaque “black box” negotiations with China by guaranteeing legislative oversight and civic participation was a key demand of the movement.
The relatively “flexible” and “loose” version of supervisory regulations proposed by the DPP caucus — which would not be applied retroactively to past agreements or negotiations already underway — raised questions about whether they were laying a path for continuing President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China trade policy, Lai said, calling for the DPP and New Power Party (NPP) caucuses to respond to activists’ objections within a week, and to hold open dialogues and debates over differences in opinion. [FULL STORY]
