Legislature President Wang Jin-pyng on Sunday reached out to the protesting students who have occupied Taiwan’s legislature for nearly three weeks.
At the heart of the students’ protest is a trade in services agreement with China, which Taiwan signed last year. They say that the pact would give China more control over Taiwan, and they oppose the method in which the ruling party was attempting to push it through the legislature without review. They responded by forcing their way into the legislature on March 18th, and have occupied it ever since, effectively stalling the workings of the legislature.
Legislature President Wang Jin-pyng broke his silence on the occupation on Sunday morning during a visit to the legislature along with members of both the ruling and opposition parties. Wang spoke briefly about the situation before entering the legislature through the front door.
In particular, Wang said that he would not hold cross-partisan negotiations over the trade pact until legislators passed a law that would monitor Taiwan’s trade pacts with China. That was one of the demands of the student protesters.
Wang said he regretted the inability of lawmakers to set aside their differences in order to find common ground on the trade pact. He said that although there are varying opinions on whether the occupation of the legislature was appropriate, it had prompted the people of Taiwan to think about the issues. However, he said, the occupation had prevented the legislature from addressing a number of other issues, and that had impacted Taiwan’s image in the international community. That, he said, was unacceptable to the people of Taiwan. He urged the students to end their occupation and continue their efforts elsewhere.
After his statement, Wang entered the main chamber of the legislature, where he was met with applause from the protesters. Protest leader Lin Fei-fan called Wang’s visit the first goodwill gesture that they had seen since the occupation began. Lin said the students would have to meet to discuss their next move.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s ruling party – the Kuomintang (KMT) – held a press conference on Sunday afternoon in response to Wang’s visit. The KMT said that the results of cross-partisan negotiations over the service trade pact were still valid. Therefore, the party said, the legislature should continue to discuss and vote on the pact clause-by-clause.