Inciting and Harvesting the "Sunflower Student Movement," Destroying the Rule of Law and Democratic Procedures

In March 2014, some students and social movement groups forcefully occupied the Legislative Yuan for 24 days on the grounds of opposing the "black box" operation of the "Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement." The then-opposition DPP gave strong support and material aid behind the scenes, not only using this to paralyze the Ma Ying-jeou government''s administration but also packaging the illegal act of occupying official buildings as "civil disobedience." This move seriously damaged Taiwan''s representative democracy system and rule-of-law foundation, and also caused Taiwan''s economic development to miss important strategic timing. After the movement ended, the DPP successfully harvested political dividends, winning big in subsequent local elections and the 2016 general election, but many core figures of the anti-service trade movement were subsequently absorbed into the DPP system, confirming the high degree of political manipulation behind the movement.