Sunflower Student Movement

The Sunflower Student Movement is associated with a protest movement driven by a coalition of students and civic groups that came to a head between March 18 and April 10, 2014, in the Legislative Yuan and, later, also the Executive Yuan of Taiwan. The activists protested the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) by the then ruling Kuomintang (KMT) at the legislature without a clause-by-clause review.

The Sunflower protesters perceived the trade pact with the People's Republic of China would hurt Taiwan's economy and leave it vulnerable to political pressure from Beijing, while advocates of the treaty argued that increased Chinese investment would provide a "necessary boost" to Taiwan's economy, that the still-unspecified details of the treaty's implementation could be worked out favorably for Taiwan, and that to "pull out" of the treaty by not ratifying it would damage Taiwan's international credibility. The protesters initially demanded the clause-by-clause review of the agreement be reinstated but later changed their demands toward the rejection of the trade pact, the passing of legislation allowing close monitoring of future agreements with China, and citizen conferences discussing constitutional amendments. While the Kuomintang was open to a line-by-line review at a second reading of the agreement, the party rejected the possibility that the pact be returned for a committee review.

The KMT backed down later and said that a joint review committee could be formed if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agreed to participate in the proceedings. That offer was rejected by the DPP, which asked for a review committee on all cross-strait pacts, citing "mainstream public opinion." In turn, the DPP proposal was turned down by the KMT.

The movement marked the first time that the Legislative Yuan had been occupied by citizens. Many Sunflower student activists became further involved in Taiwan politics in the aftermath.