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Thousands Protest Taiwan's Trade Pact With China
Organizers Say 500,000 People Gather in Taipei

擅自加了部分重點簡譯

若有不周之處尚請見諒

http://goo.gl/ogsBq0


TAIPEI—Tens of thousands of people gathered for a protest outside Taiwan's
Presidential Office Building in downtown Taipei on Sunday, stepping up
pressure on President Ma Ying-jeou to re-examine a trade deal with Beijing
that has sparked an occupation of the legislature by students for nearly two
weeks.

學生施壓要求重審馬英九與北京之間的貿易協定已近兩週。

Sunday's protest is the latest demonstration since the unilateral passage of
the trade pact by the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party, or the Kuomintang,
during a first reading without bipartisan deliberation on March 17. The
protesters, who say the negotiations between Taipei and Beijing weren't
transparent and are worried China will exert more control over Taiwan's
economy, aim to tap into growing skepticism over increasing cross-Strait
economic ties and Taipei's rapprochement with Beijing since President Ma took
office in 2008.

週日抗議活動，源自於國民黨無視朝野協商，單方面將貿易協定通過一讀。

示威者擔心台北與北京的黑箱談判會讓中國逐步控制台灣經濟。

The protesters, dressed in black and wearing yellow headbands that said
"Taiwan, No Services Trade Deal," were largely peaceful and disciplined.
There were families with baby strollers, and dogs dressed by their owners in
black at the demonstration, which also featured street performances and
people chanting slogans to the tune of "Do you hear the people sing?" from
the Les Misérables musical.

Taipei's weather was balmy early Sunday, before becoming drizzly and windy
toward evening. Crowds continued to grow hours after the rally started and
sprawled toward the central bank building, several blocks away from the
Presidential Office Building. Some nearby subway stations were shut to divert
the crowds.

Protest organizers said 500,000 people attended Sunday's sit-in. Taipei
police said there were 116,000 protesters.

抗議主辦方宣稱有五十萬人參加靜坐。

台北警方則說有十一萬六千名抗議者。

At the heart of the protests is the Cross-Strait Service in Trade Agreement
signed between Taipei and Beijing last year. The pact, according to the
Taiwan government, will help the economy become more competitive by opening
service industries such as banking, health care and food catering to
companies across the Taiwan Strait.

"We are not against a trade pact with China, nor closer business ties with
China. What we are against is a lack of transparency. We want a negotiation
process in which everyone sitting here will have a chance to take part," Chen
Wei-ting, one of the student leaders behind the demonstration, told the crowd.

學生領袖之一：我們不反對與中國的貿易協定，我們反對的是不透明的黑箱作業。

Chen Deming, China's chief negotiator in the trade talks with Taiwan, said
Sunday he would be "deeply regretful" if the pact isn't passed in Taiwan,
according to the Xinhua News Agency. The economies of Taiwan and China are
"highly complementary" and the deal could boost Taiwan's economy, Mr. Chen
was quoted as saying.



Opponents of the trade deal also say the agreement will favor conglomerates
and leave small- to medium-size enterprises in Taiwan struggling to compete.

The protesters' demands include a retraction of the pact and setting up a
mechanism to oversee all cross-Strait deals.

抗議者的訴求是退回該(黑箱)貿易協定，並設立一個監督兩岸貿易協定的機制。

"Taiwanese people are in doubt and anxious about, not afraid of, the trade
pact. It all started as opposition against the lack of transparency, then it
grew into opposition against China and also Taiwan's government," said Evelyn
Chiang, 32, a Taiwanese working in Singapore as a marketing researcher who
flew in on Sunday morning to join the rally.

Huang Sheng-chao, a 51-year-old noodle-shop vendor, said: "This is not a
question of right or wrong because both sides make a valid point. But I am
against the pact because the government hasn't fully convinced me that I, an
ordinary citizen running a small business, can benefit from it. I have been
waiting for an explanation for a while."

Mr. Ma has said the deal would pave way to other regional trade deals
including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and that the demonstrators' concerns
are unfounded.

He said a failure to pass the pact would damage Taiwan's reputation as a
trade partner, and could be a setback to its relationship with China, which
has warmed in recent years. "Taiwan's democracy didn't come easy. I urged the
students to respect the constitution, give the legislature back to the
people," the president said in a statement.

Lin Jih-wen, a political-science professor at Taiwan's National Chengchi
University, said: "Like it or not, the pact will be passed because the KMT
has the majority in the legislature. So the question is not if, but how it
will be passed. It remains to be seen if the government will empathize with
the people at the risk of upsetting Beijing."

Since Taiwan and China split some 60 years ago, the Taiwan Strait has been a
perennial flash point in the region, with Beijing vowing to reclaim the
self-ruled island by force if necessary. But tensions have eased since Mr. Ma
took office, with the two sides increasing communications and trade.

However, a student-led movement against the trade pact, dubbed the "sunflower
movement," started two weeks ago after a ruling Chinese Nationalist Party
lawmaker announced the completion of a first reading of the pact at a review
session without bipartisan discussion.

In response, a group of university students stormed into the legislative
building and took over the main meeting chamber. On March 23, hundreds of
more hawkish students stormed the cabinet compound. Antiriot police used
water cannons to dispel them, injuring more than 100, including policemen.
The movement has since then attracted more supporters, with as many as 20,000
protesters holding the legislative building at one point.

Mr. Ma, who is also chairman of the KMT, on March 25 offered to meet with the
students to hear their concerns. However, students refused to meet and
demanded a guarantee from Mr. Ma that he won't take disciplinary action
against any KMT legislators who support their cause.

As the deadlock between the government and protesters drags on, some people
in Taiwan have urged the protesters to retreat from the legislative building
and let lawmakers go back to work.

Some also say the benefits of the trade pact will likely outweigh the risks,
giving Taiwan's sluggish economy a boost it needs.

也有人說 Z > B BJ4

Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, a government think tank, said
earlier the agreement could add 12,000 jobs to Taiwan's services sector, with
the biggest beneficiaries being retail and storage sectors. It could also add
around 0.025-0.034 percentage point to Taiwan's gross domestic product, the
think tank said.

一個政府的智囊團，中經院說該協定會增加12000個職位，最大受益者是台灣服務業的零售
和倉儲，GDP也有望增加0.025~0.034%。

Taiwan's government said it would earmark nearly US$3 billion to help small
and medium enterprises survive or transform themselves in the face of rising
competition from China. But Luo Wei, an economist at Fubon Financial Holdings
Co. 2881.TW -0.24% , among other economists, said small businesses are
concerned over the scant details of the plan.

台灣政府說要花30億美元幫助中小企業生存或轉型。
一些經濟學者說中小企業擔心該計畫細節太少。

"Due to globalization and Taiwan's maturing market, those SMEs are facing a
tougher business environment whether there is a services trade pact with
China or not. But they just don't know how they will be assisted, of course
they are against the deal," Mr. Luo said.

—Aries Poon contributed to this article.


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