What happened and is happening in Taiwan?
The under-reported event at the Manoa campus mirrors what is happening across
the west side of the Pacific. On March 17, Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party
asserted a new Cross-Strait Service Trade Treaty, which may open the island's
service industries to China. Anger and discontent soon spread through
social networks like Facebook and “ptt,” the most popular Internet forum among
Taiwan's young people. On March 18, hundreds of students soon organized,
climbed over the fence, and occupied the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's Parliament
Building. These student activists argued that the current treaty poses a
threat to Taiwan’s service industry, and, therefore, the legislatives and
President Ma Ying-Jeou should withdraw the treaty and renegotiate it.
Despite the facts that both the Ma government and the student leaders have promised to negotiate, the Sunflower Movement remains highly controversial. On the one hand, many mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times, condemned students for abusing people’s democratic rights. Most reports mentioned that Sunflower supporters hindered government function, damaged the historical building of Parliament, and, most important of all, disregarded the massive economic benefits brought by trading with China. On the other hand, interestingly, non-traditional social networks like Facebook reflect a very distinctive viewpoint. In the words of Sunflower supporters, they were angry because the ruling party, Kuomintang, and President Ma signed and passed the treaty under the table. The treaty was signed without public supervision last summer, and passed in March without proper legislative procedure, i.e., a lawmaker passed the treaty in 30 seconds. It was the Ma government’s illegal procedure that violated Taiwan’s democracy.
The
Emergence of Civil Consciousness
As a matter of fact, the
current Sunflower Movement is not the first time that Taiwanese have
organized and expressed their voices. Over the past decade, a hidden trend of
civil consciousness has gradually emerged in Taiwan's new generation via the
use of non-traditional media such as Facebook and Internet forums like ppt. In the
summer of 2009, one year after current President Ma Ying-Jeou was elected, category-1
hurricane Morakot hit Taiwan and caused
tremendous damage to the island. During the disaster, many Internet users
connected and shared information as well as rescue sources while the Ma government
was heavily criticized for slow responses and lacking disaster management
abilities. With the disappointment toward the ruling party, young generations
also realized the limitations of traditional newspapers and televisions, and
regarded the Internet as a much more convenient media, through which local
information can be quickly spread, and people holding the same views can organize
themselves and take actions.
Counterwaves
Against Neoliberalism
In addition, the Sunflower Movement also indicates concerns toward current
economic policy. In the eyes of Sunflower supporters, this Service Trading
Treaty only benefits few entrepreneurs, who can hire cheap labor forces in China
after the treaty is implemented; in contrast, the new treaty will lead to the
bankruptcy of the island's small and medium businesses.
Such
worries reflect the development dilemma in today's Taiwanese society. On the
one hand, Taiwan, one of the four economic “tigers” in Asia that rose in the
1960s, has encountered economic depression since the 2000s, during the
presidency of former President Chen Sui-Bian. In 2008, Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou was
elected, promising to boost the island's economy by opening up Chinese trade.
However, the GDP and employment rates as well as personal income did not rise,
but deteriorated, which forced the Ma government to accelerate the path to
free-trade with China.
On the other hand, it is important to note that many Taiwanese are
resistant to neoliberalism, that is, free trade and capital accumulation.
Compared to the other three “tigers”, i.e., Hong Kong, Singapore, and South
Korea, the Taiwanese economy since the 1960s has a significant portion of small
and medium businesses, relies less on giant enterprises, and maintains a
relatively smaller gap between rich and poor. This distinctive social structure
evokes a strong civil consciousness against the neoliberal wave, which has dominated
the United States as well as the global economy. In the early 2000s, many civilians
expressed their discontent toward land appropriations, media monopolization,
and free-trade policy by using protests, demonstrations, petitions and filming documentaries
and even Internet satires. For example, in 2012, non-government organizations (NGOs), students, and scholars
united to oppose the media monopoly of Want
Want, a Taiwanese enterprise closely affiliated with China.
The Inevitable Political Worries
Both the Sunflower and the anti-Want Want movements have
inevitably touched on the most sensitive issue across the Taiwan Strait:
political status of Taiwan. Resistance to economic integration also reflects
the deeply fear of being politically united by China. The Service Trading Treaty
will open Taiwan’s transportation and telecommunication industries as well as
publishing, which will threaten national security and the freedom of speech once
the Chinese state-own enterprises come into Taiwan, according to the Sunflower
supporters.
On the other hand, the ongoing Sunflower Movement may have
produced unknown political impacts on both China and Taiwan. So far, the island’s
absolute majority does not want to unite with China, and does not want
independence either. Most of Taiwan’s citizens prefer to remain the current
situation, that is, the ambiguity between unification and independence.
However, Xinhua, China’s official news agency, viewed the Sunflower supporters
as separatists and the movements as stirred up by the DPP, Kuomintang’s
opposition party, and it is also reflected in Tianya, the biggest Internet forum
in China. Taiwan’s diplomats also warn that withdrawing the Service Treaty will
make future economic co-operations more difficult. To the Taiwanese politics,
this event may not only challenge President Ma’s power in the party, but also
influence the party’s odds of success in the coming Legislative Election. Certainly,
in the foreseeable future, Taiwan’s civil society will continue to actively
supervise the government. Moreover, in my opinions, if the government did not
respond carefully to the opposition, young activists might be radicalized and
hinder any political and economic cohesion across the Strait.
A Short Summary
This
is a difficult situation: while today’s Taiwan is highly dependent on Chinese
economy, many Taiwanese is anxious about losing their unique political and
cultural identities. Will the Sunflower Movement succeed? Of course not, as the student activists have begun
to withdraw from the Legislative Yuan, and passing the treaty is still a must
for the Ma government to boost the economy. Modern history also has taught us,
the trend toward neoliberalism is, usually, irrevocable. Nonetheless, this
Sunflower Movement, in which over 500, 000 people has participated, may provide
a new example of how young generations struggle with economic and political
integrations. P.S. An edited version of this article is published in Ka Leo Hawaii, a newspaper of the University of Hawai'i Community.
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