英文每周一文，太陽花學運暫告落幕，看看經濟學人的報導也勉強算有跟上外媒的腳步啦！ Sunflower Sutra

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Politics in Taiwan

Sunflower sutra太陽花箴言

Apr 8th 2014, 8:54 by J.R. | TAIPEI

From the Economist

MA YING-JEOU, Taiwan’s president, is no doubt relieved. After three weeks occupying the debating chamber議場 of the Legislative Yuan立法院, Taiwan’s parliament國會, student protesters agreed on April 7th to end their sit-in靜坐 within three days. Demonstrators示威者 have fought with riot police鎮暴警察, and some have been injured; hundreds of thousands converged聚集 on the presidential office on March 30th. But signs of disunity不團結(分裂) are appearing in Mr Ma’s ruling party, the Kuomintang (or KMT). And relations with China are in danger of 處於危機的狀態cooling.

The students’ occupation of parliament was in a bid to 致力於prevent the passage of an agreement 通過協議allowing for freer trade更自由的貿易 in services 服務with China. They argue that the pact was negotiated in secret 黑箱作業/秘密協議and will allow China to gain greater political control over the island容許中國對台灣進行更多的政治控制. One of their main demands was for a law allowing for greater public oversight容許更多公共監督 of such cross-strait agreements兩岸協議, to be implemented施行 before this particular services pact is passed. On April 3rd Mr Ma’s cabinet partially responded to this demand by approving a bill 通過法案for monitoring such pacts with China—but still did not agree to the idea of enacting頒布法案 it first. It was only on April 6th, when Taiwan’s parliamentary speaker國會發言人(此指立法院院長), Wang Jin-pyng, pledged誓言 to halt 停止review of the services deal until such a law was enacted that the students agreed to call it a day結束(行動).

Mr Wang’s promise (made, to much media fanfare媒體大張旗鼓報導, during a visit to the students in the debating chamber) was glaringly超級明顯 at odds with the stance of與…的立場不合 Mr Ma’s administration. Mr Ma’s spokeswoman, Garfie Li, said she had no idea that Mr Wang, a powerful figure in the KMT國民黨重量級人物, had planned to say this. The cabinet’s spokesman, Sun Lih-chyun行政院發言人孫立群, did not agree with this pledge. It is unclear what will happen next. Officials say passage of the services pact, which opens sensitive industries敏感的產業 including telecommunications 電訊業and publishing出版業 to Chinese investment, is vital for Taiwan’s economic development and its participation in some regional trade blocs區域性貿易合作團體. But other observers say that Mr Ma risks isolating himself within the fractured KMT分裂的國民黨 if he exerts more pressure on lawmakers to pass the contentious備受爭議的 pact. The opposition and many Taiwanese, fearful of greater economic integration更大規模的經濟整合 with China, still firmly support Mr Wang’s pledge. And not all students are ready to leave the chamber.

Some students say Mr Wang’s high-profile visit高調造訪 also generated expectations among the public that the protests would soon end. Even before his promise, a poll conducted一份問卷調查 between April 2nd and 3rd by TVBS, a broadcaster, suggested that many Taiwanese are weary of parliamentary paralysis厭倦了國會被(學生)癱瘓. Fully 43% opposed the services pact—but more than half (56%) thought the students should either end their protest or take it to another venue去別的場地靜坐. Oliver Chen學運的學生代表陳瑞光, a student spokesman, says that their protest has now gained enough influence, but also that students are wilting凋謝(意指人數萎縮/減少). “Our comrades同志are really tired. We are physically and spiritually exhausted我們身心俱疲.”