{"id":46200,"date":"2015-03-25T23:14:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T23:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=46200 "},"modified":"2015-03-25T23:14:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T23:14:00","slug":"46200-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=46200","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan activists fan China fears as protest trial opens"},"content":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:31am EDT<\/div>
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Activists push a ball reading ”constitution reformation” during a sit-in to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Sunflower Movement outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei March 18, 2015. Reuters\/Pichi Chuang<\/div>
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(Reuters) – Anti-China activists told a court in Taiwan that their weeks-long protest campaign last year saved the island from further economic colonization by Beijing, in defense statements given at the start of their trial on Wednesday.<\/div>
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The protests, dubbed the “Sunflower Movement”, marked the largest display of anti-China sentiment seen in Taiwan for years and followed nearly a decade of rapprochement between the two historical foes.<\/div>
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Some 119 activists stand accused of stirring public unrest and attacking police during protests aimed at blocking a controversial trade deal that Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou had signed with China.<\/div>
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“What would Taiwan be like now if we hadn’t organized those protests?” Chen Wei-ting, one of eight main protest leaders on trial, told the court. “All these industries – publishing, telecoms, tourism – would have been bought up by large Chinese interests.”<\/div>
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President Ma, who is in the final year of his second four-year term, has overseen the signing of several pacts aimed at building economic ties in sectors ranging from finance to tourism.<\/div>
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Opponents launched the protest movement after accusing Ma of trying to ram through legislation for a far-reaching services-trade pact without public consultation in March of last year.<\/div>
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Before the pact could become law hundreds of protesters led by Chen and others forced their way into Taiwan’s parliament and repelled police efforts to evict them.<\/div>
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The pact, which has still to be ratified, would have opened 64 of Taiwan’s service sectors to China and 80 of China’s sectors to Taiwan.<\/div>
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Opponents say it would have accelerated political reconciliation, a key goal of China’s foreign policy. Last September, China’s President Xi Jinping reiterated the “One Country, Two Systems” principle for bringing Taiwan back under Chinese rule.<\/div>
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“Without this protest Ma and Xi could have already held political talks,” Chen said in his defense statement. “We could be commemorating the anniversary of Taiwan becoming a part of ‘One China’.”<\/div>
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The emergence of the Sunflower Movement is regarded as a turning point in Taiwan politics, as new parties and grassroots voices have begun calling for more openness in negotiations with China.<\/div>
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The protests also accelerated a steep decline in popularity for Ma and his ruling Nationalist party, as evinced by the party’s drubbing in recent local elections.<\/div>
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After losing a civil war in China to the Communists in 1949, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. Since then Taiwan underwent a peaceful transition to democracy and boasts one of Asia’s most vibrant civil societies.<\/div>
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For detail please visit here<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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