The tenth anniversary of the Sunflower Motion was commemorated on Monday with a rally in entrance of the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s legislature, in Taipei.
This takes place as a part of a sequence of occasions organized by the Financial Democracy Union, one of many civil society teams initially concerned within the motion. Key motion figures reminiscent of former pupil leaders Lin Fei-fan and Dennis Wei had been among the many audio system.
The Sunflower Motion was one of many largest social actions in Taiwanese historical past. The motion broke out on the eve of March 18, 2014, as a response to the passage of the Cross-Strait Providers in Commerce Settlement (CSSTA). The motion centered across the 23-day occupation of the Taiwanese legislature by pupil activists in response to the CSSTA. After the scholars had been unexpectedly profitable in stepping into and occupying the legislative chambers, tens of 1000’s gathered across the legislature, forming an occupation encampment that spanned a number of blocks.
An try by college students to escalate on the evening of March 23 by occupying Taiwan’s govt department of presidency led to a police crackdown, generally known as one of many largest makes use of of police pressure for the reason that finish of martial regulation. Per week later, the motion reached its zenith when an estimated 500,000 individuals – round 2.5 % of the Taiwanese inhabitants – took to the streets on March 30, 2014, to point out their help for the protesters.
The CSSTA would have allowed for Chinese language funding in Taiwan’s service sector trade. Its passage came about as one of many then-ruling Ma Ying-jeou administration’s strikes geared toward facilitating nearer political and financial relations between Taiwan and China.
It was not merely the invoice itself that provoked outrage, however the means by which it was handed. Particularly, KMT legislator Chang Ching-chung introduced that the invoice had handed evaluation in 30 seconds, frightening outrage over what critics noticed as a circumventing of the democratic course of.
Even earlier than the CSSTA, Taiwan had already seen seen shifts within the media panorama after newspapers such because the China Instances and tv networks reminiscent of CtiTV had been acquired by Need Need Group proprietor Tsai Eng-meng. The China Instances, CtiTV, and different media shops bought by Need Need Group had been seen as censoring crucial protection of China after they had been acquired by the conglomerate. This contributed to considerations that Chinese language funding within the service sector trade, which constitutes round 70 % of Taiwan’s GDP, would result in a major affect on political freedoms. On the similar time, considerations concerning the potential “mainlandization” of Taiwan had been on the rise, with a pointy uptick within the variety of Chinese language vacationers and visits by Chinese language authorities officers.
The political administration of Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Occasion (DPP) is usually perceived as having swept to energy in 2016 by coasting off of momentum within the wake of the Sunflower Motion. Most of the younger leaders of the Sunflower Motion entered electoral politics afterward, profitable workplace as a part of newly emergent third events such because the New Energy Occasion or as a part of the DPP. The elections in 2016 marked the primary time {that a} non-KMT celebration captured the bulk within the Taiwanese legislature.
Ten years later, nevertheless, the political legacy of the motion continues to be up within the air. This was seen within the commemorations themselves, which sought to emphasise that the motion was not centered on any “gods,” however that every one contributors had been all “classmates.”
A part of the political rivalry concerning the motion’s legacy pertains to the truth that some political figures that emerged from the motion – reminiscent of former New Energy Occasion chair Huang Kuo-chang and former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je – have pivoted in political orientation towards the pan-Blue camp.
Though Ko expressed help for the scholars protesting the CSSTA in 2014, he floated the thought of restarting talks for the CSSTA within the lead-up to the January 2024 presidential elections. The KMT has additionally begun to lean into the thought of reviving the CSSTA.
It will not be shocking, then, that many audio system on the anniversary occasions lashed out at Huang and Ko throughout the rally, with the group responding with anger every time their names got here up.
To this extent, it’s noteworthy how framings for the motion right this moment mirror Taiwan’s modern geopolitical considerations. Audio system on the tenth anniversary rally included representatives of Ukraine and Hong Kong, with the group shouting slogans in help of each. Ukraine and Hong Kong had been introduced up as different contexts wherein democracies face threats from authoritarian states, with Hong Kong exhibiting a possible future that Taiwan might face if it fell to Chinese language rule.
Whereas the DPP didn’t have an official presence on the rally, the celebration’s slate of youth candidates within the 2024 election – termed “The Era” – had been former Sunflower Motion activists or younger politicians who emerged within the wake of the motion. Equally, youth activists had been named to excessive positions within the DPP after the election, with former motion spokesperson Justin Wu turning into the pinnacle of the DPP’s Division of Information.
Competition within the legislature between the KMT and DPP could also be of specific sensitivity within the weeks after the Sunflower Motion’s tenth anniversary. The KMT is making an attempt to leverage its slender fringe of 52 seats to the DPP’s 51 seats, on account of which the president and vp of the legislature are each KMT politicians regardless of the celebration falling in need of an outright majority. This marks the primary time the KMT has held management of the Legislative Yuan since 2016, making the Sunflower Motion parallels all of the extra poignant.
Final week, DPP politicians reminiscent of legislator Hung Solar-han, a former environmental activist who was himself energetic within the Sunflower Motion, criticized Legislative Yuan president Han Kuo-yu for ending scheduled questioning in such a fashion that DPP legislators weren’t allowed to talk. For critics, Han’s actions recalled the “30-second incident” that sparked the Sunflower Motion.
Equally, one of many triggers for the Sunflower Motion was, actually, Ma Ying-jeou’s makes an attempt to oust then-KMT majority speaker Wang Jin-pyng from the celebration. Wang was seen because the chief of the comparatively pro-localization faction of the KMT. Ma, as chief of the “mainlander” faction of the KMT, was making an attempt to rid himself of a rival within the KMT. But this drew controversy due to using wiretaps on each Wang and DPP minority whip Ker Chien-ming, elevating criticisms that Ma was utilizing the Particular Investigation Division (SID) of the Ministry of Justice to focus on political enemies. The SID additionally performed a job within the corruption fees that put former DPP president Chen Shui-bian in jail when Ma took workplace.
Given the SID’s popularity for getting used to politically goal people on the behest of the president, the division was dissolved when Tsai Ing-wen took workplace. However the KMT is at present calling for reviving the SID and inserting it below the authority of the legislature, seemingly hoping to affect the SID utilizing its slim majority within the legislature and direct it to research corruption scandals involving DPP politicians.
Whereas protest on the size of the Sunflower Motion is unlikely with the DPP holding the presidency, it’s not unattainable that such actions result in pushback from most of the people – significantly if the KMT’s actions deliver up specters of the previous. That is all of the extra so, in gentle of the KMT revisiting the notion of the CSSTA, calling up extra direct reminiscences of the Sunflower Motion.
