Pay Attention to the Middle Class

Pay Attention to the Middle Class
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China)
A Translation
March 25, 2014

Summary: Many young people are concerned about low wages, and about being worked to death. That is why Taiwan businesses must expand onto the world stage. They must create more and better high-value added jobs. That is something Taiwan must consider when signing various economic agreements, including the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services. Even the ECFA trade in services agreement has turned Taiwan upside down. What will happen to Taiwan when the tsunami of globalization strikes? This is truly cause for concern.

Full text below:

The night of March 23 may have been the longest and most worrisome night for Taiwan's democracy in nearly 30 years. The "Sunflower" student movement, begun on March 18, is opposed to the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement. It has begun drawing to a close. But student movement hawks suddenly expanded the battlefield from the Legislative Yuan to the Executive Yuan. Fortunately Premier Chiang Yi-hua moved decisively. He ordered police to expel the protestors. After several clashes, the area in front of the Executive Yuan was cleared at 4:00 on the morning of the 24th. Alas, some of the students and crowd broke into the Executive Yuan. They smashed, looted, or tossed the contents, leaving behind them a trail of destruction. This deliberate act of vandalism in the name of a student movement, left many deeply fearful and concerned.

How did Taiwan wind up in this mess? Political schemers with ulterior motives draped themselves in the clothing of the student movement. This rendered them invulnerable. It made them exempt from outside criticism. The government wanted to respond, but was deterred by the possible repercussions. It feared charges of "adults bullying children," and of "police beating students."

The students who occupied the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan included naive, romantic, idealistic young students. But the leaders at center stage were all well-versed in manipulation. They used hand signals to order the crowds to link arms and lie down, to increase the difficulty of police eviction. They carried wire cutters to destroy barricades. If anyone even brushed against them, they screamed bloody murder. After breaking into the Executive Yuan, they went straight to the electrical closet, the premier's office, and the offices of key officials. One cannot help wondering. Would amateur activists really be so sophisticated? Were they really ordinary students?

The movement opposed to the Cross-Strait Agreement in Trade in Services was swift to take shape. Currently it includes student groups from the National Taipei University Department of Sociology and the Tsinghua University Institute for Social Research. It includes student groups from National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University, Donghua University, and Soochow University. They coordinated and urged students all across Taiwan to skip classes. Five major school association chairmen, including National Association of Colleges Chairman Yang Hung-dun, Private Universities and Colleges Association Chairman Lai Ting-min, National University of Science and Technology Association Chairman Yao Li-teh, Private Colleges Technology Association Chairman Ke Chi-hsiang, and Vocational Institute Association Chairman Chen Wen-kui issued a joint statement. They urged students to remain rational in their means of expression. They said schools respect the students' freedom to participate in anti-trade in service agreement protests. But they said that occupying the Executive Yuan was obviously disorderly, illegal, and bore no relation to free speech.

The student movement is degenerating into student protests. What kind of unrest and anxiety will these student protests bring society? Are the students, and the politicians and teachers who urged the students to take to the streets, willing to bear responsibility? Different segments of society may have different views about the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services. But are they willing to see Taiwan society divided in this manner, to the point where they hate each other?

Besides, President Ma Ying-jeou, who is KMT party chairman, and Premier Chiang Yi-hua, are willing to review the trade in services agreement on a line item basis. On the 24th, the Legislative Yuan passed the proposal in a Joint Committee, then asked the Executive Yuan to immediately withdraw all cross-strait trade agreements and restart negotiations. As one can imagine, the process is rife with challenges and difficulties. But the ROC is a free and democratic nation. The people use their votes to decide their own future. Where is the need to resort to the means adopted by the student movement?

The student movement issued an endless string of accusations. It accused the administration of being a dictatorship. There was no shortage of university and graduate school students among those who participated in the student movement. Do higher echelon intellectuals on Taiwan really care about global political change? Do they even know what a dictator looks like? The police used batons to evict those occupying the Executive Yuan. They were assaulted by the mob. The KMT is the majority party in the Legislative Yuan. When KMT legislators serve as co-chairman, they are physically prevented from even mounting the podium. They are denied the opportunity to speak. They must stand in the corner using their personal megaphones to be heard. When the premier attempted to speak to the students, he was booed off the stage within 10 minutes. After the president held a press conference with the foreign press, he was blasted from all sides. Will everyone please look into your heart? Can such a free, open, diverse, and precious society really be termed a dictatorship? Do we really intend to denounce it, trample over it, and finally destroy it and lose it?

Many young people are concerned about low wages, and about being worked to death. That is why Taiwan businesses must expand onto the world stage. They must create more and better high-value added jobs. That is something Taiwan must consider when signing various economic agreements, including the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services. Will the occupation of the Legislative Yuan, the occupation of the Executive Yuan, or even the occupation of the Presidential Palace, result in jobs descending from heaven? The future is now. It is hurtling straight toward us. How much time can Taiwan afford to waste? Even the ECFA trade in services agreement has turned Taiwan upside down. What will happen to Taiwan when the tsunami of globalization strikes? This is truly cause for concern.

社論－中產階級的心聲需要被關照
稍後再讀
中國時報 本報訊 2014年03月25日 04:10

3月23日的黃昏到凌晨，可能是台灣近30年來，民主發展的歷程中，最漫長又最讓人揪心的一夜。從318開始的「反服貿太陽花學運」，本來已經逐漸接近尾聲，但學運中的鷹派卻突如其來的將戰場從立法院擴大至行政院，幸而行政長院江宜樺當機立斷，決定加派員警驅離群眾；經過多次攻堅，總算在24日清晨4點多讓行政院附近淨空。然而，進入行政院的部分學生和群眾，在各辦公處所任意打、砸、搶、丟，留下滿目瘡痍，這場刻意包裝成學生運動的惡意破壞行動，更在許多人民的心中，留下了無限的憂慮與擔心。

台灣怎麼會走到如今的這步田地？當別有盤算的政治謀略披掛上學生運動的包裝後，立刻就如同有了「金剛護體」、有了外界不能評論的正當性。政府投鼠忌器，生怕一個不小心就惹來「大人欺負小孩」、「警察打學生」的負面批評。

然而，從占領立法院到占領行政院，天真浪漫、滿懷理想性的青年學子或許有之，但檯面上的領導人物，個個訓練有素，在現場指揮群眾手絆手躺下，以增加警察驅離的困難度；手持利剪破壞拒馬；稍一被觸及就瘋狂大喊；進入行政院之後，直奔供電室、院長室與重要員官員辦公室…凡此種種，不得不讓人聯想，素人街頭運動者怎麼可能如此老練？他們真的都只是單純的學生嗎？

這一場反服貿的社運快速發酵，目前已有台北大學社會系、清華大學社會研究所，以及台大、清大、政大、台師大、東華、東吳等多所大學的學生團體經過串聯後，發起全台大罷課，並呼籲學生「自主罷課」。對此，已有5大學校協進會，包括國立大學校院協會理事長（中山大學校長楊弘敦），私立大學校院協進會理事長（世新大學校長賴鼎銘），國立科技大學協會理事長（台北科技大學校長姚立德）、私立科技大學校院協進會理事長（龍華科技大學校長葛自祥）和專科學校協會理事長（國立台南專科護理學校校長陳文貴）等5人發表共同聲明，呼籲學生應秉持理性表達意見；學校尊重同學有參與反服貿行動的自由，但攻占行政院的行為，已明顯脫序、違法，脫離了言論表達的自由。

如今，學運已經快要變質為學潮了，而學潮會給社會帶來怎樣的動盪、不安，主事者，包括參與的學生以及鼓吹學生走上街頭的政治人物和老師們能夠承擔嗎？社會各界對《兩岸服務貿易協議》容或有不同的見解和意見，但大多數民眾會願意見到台灣社會因此分裂、因此對立，甚至因此彼此仇恨嗎？

再說，馬英九總統（國民黨黨主席）和江宜樺院長都已明確表示，同意讓《服貿協議》進入「逐條討論、逐條審議」，立院24日也已在聯席會中通過提案，要求行政院立即撤回兩岸服貿協議，並重啟談判。儘管可以想像這個過程將會充滿各種挑戰與困難，但台灣已經是個民主自由的國家，人民手中有選票可以決定自己的未來，何須再訴諸學運這樣的手段？

這次學運中，不斷有人指控執政者為獨裁者，說實在的，如果台灣的高級知識份子（參加學運者不乏大學生與研究生）的確關心這個世界的政局變化，當知道所謂的「獨裁者」是何等模樣！在台灣，面對強行攻占行政院的群眾，警察使用警棍驅離會被海K；在立法院占多數的國民黨立委擔任聯席會主席時，連主席台都上不了、找不到任何發言的機會，還得用自備的小蜜蜂躲在一個角落裡說話；行政院長跟學生講話、講不到10分鐘就被轟走；總統舉行中外記者會後，還得遭受來自四面八方的狂罵狠批…請大家摸摸良心，這樣的台灣能叫獨裁社會嗎？如此自由、如此開放、如此多元的台灣，是何等珍貴！難道我們要不斷否定、踐踏，終至毀滅而失去嗎？

此外，正是因為許多年輕人擔心低薪、爆肝的生活無止無盡，台灣才更需要走出去，以世界為舞台，創造更多、更好、附加價值更高的工作機會，這是台灣一定要審慎考慮簽訂各項經濟協定、包括《兩岸服貿協議》的理由。難道占領立法院、占領行政院，甚至占領總統府好了，工作機會就會從天上掉下來嗎？未來正不停地一直來、一直來，台灣還有多少時間可以浪費？連簽一個ECFA架構下的《服貿協議》都可以搞得如此天翻地覆，台灣在全球化浪潮下的嚴酷考驗中，還能有什麼作為？真的讓人無比憂心。