Sunflower Student Movement

Source: Sunflower Movement’s Second Anniversary: Toward a New Civic Society
From: BBC Chinese
Date: March 18, 2016Author: Cheng Chung-lan

On March 17, 2014, the KMT and DPP caucuses were reviewing the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement with China at the Legislative Yuan. The legitimacy of the agreement had been repeatedly contested in Taiwan; the KMT, leveraging its dominant committee membership, was preparing to formally pass it, triggering a shoving match with the DPP caucus. KMT legislator Chang Ching-chung seized a moment at the podium and, in just 30 seconds, unilaterally declared that since the service trade agreement had exceeded a three-month review period, it should be considered “passed.” Protest groups outside — including the “Black Island Nation Youth Front” and pro-democracy activists — were shocked upon hearing the news. The following day, students stormed and vaulted the walls into the Legislative Yuan to occupy it, chanting “Reject the Trade Agreement,” launching a prolonged struggle that became the opening chapter of the “Sunflower Student Movement.”

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External Links

• Sunflower Student Movement (Wikipedia)
• Second Anniversary of the Sunflower Movement — A Review of Its Impact (Central News Agency)
• Summary of the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement (Civil Media Taiwan)
• One Year of the Sunflower Movement — What Has It Changed? (United Daily News)