Thousands in Taiwan protest China trade deal

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets around Taiwan's Parliament on Sunday to voice their opposition to a trade pact with China, part of a nearly 2-week-old protest that is challenging the president's policy of moving the democratic island economically closer to China.

Lin Fei-fan, a protest organizer, estimated that 500,000 people had turned out in the biggest demonstration since the movement started. An Associated Press estimate put the number at more than 200,000, and a police estimate at more than 100,000.

Crowds dressed in black sat on one blocked boulevard, many carrying plastic or real sunflowers, the symbol of the protest movement, and wearing yellow ribbons that read "Fight for democracy, retract the service trade pact."

Several hundred mainly student protesters have been occupying Taiwan's legislature since March 18, supported by thousands outside the building.

They are protesting President Ma Ying-jeou's intention to enact a trade deal that would allow Taiwanese and Chinese service sector companies in businesses ranging from banking to beauty parlors to open up branches or shops in the other's territory.

The action was sparked by the decision by a lawmaker from Ma's ruling Nationalist Party to renege on a promised clause-by-clause review of the trade deal, which was signed by both sides last year but is awaiting ratification by Taiwan's Parliament.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/30/taiwan-china-trade-deal/7080427/