Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews Recently, 500,000 Taiwanese gathered in front of the Presidential Palace protesting against the cross strait trade pact. The entire process went through peacefully and rationally and the crowd left immediately after the protest, receiving much praise from the media. On the same day, a demonstration also took place in Maoming city of Guangdong Province against a local government decision to build a PX chemical plant. Clashes occurred between the protestors and the police resulting in many deaths and hundreds injured. The news was completely blocked. It is analyzed that the two demonstrations reflect the difference between the political systems across the Taiwan Strait. On March 30, Taiwan Presidential Office was protected by layers of knife rest and gabion. Around 500,000 Taiwanese wearing black and holding sunflowers arrived in front of the Presidential Office shouting firmly, "Reject trade pact, Defend democracy." At 7:30PM, the event commander Lin Feifan delivered a 17 minute speech stating that President Ma Ying-jeou did not address students' request with concrete answers on the 29th at the press conference, therefore, the activity to occupy congress will continue. After finishing his speech, Lin Feifan dismissed the crowd. In half of an hour, the crowd was gone, the garbage on the street was cleared, and the entire process was peaceful and sensible. Wu Fan, political commentator: "Under democracy, Taiwanese share mutual and peaceful interactions with the government. Their demands are clear, and the government responds. Even though no agreement was reached, they will continue the civil movement and the protest against the trade pact. There were also people opposing the protest. But they did not interfere with the protestors. Peacefully, they exchanged their opinions. I think this shows how democracy can shape and cultivate people of civilization." Taiwan scholars participating in the demonstration opposed the behind closed doors trade pact, and indicated that people demand citizens' participation, open governmental information and protection of human rights. Lan Su, commentator: "Why did the cross-strait trade pact cause such a strong rally? It is because people in Taiwan worried cross-strait cooperation through the trade pact will lead to further control of Taiwan by China. They worried that protests such as this can not even be guaranteed one day. Taiwan might become like China, where no protest is allowed, or the protest is not reported, and all news is blocked." The March 30 demonstration, known as the sunflower movement, has received full media coverage. Many media, including international media, have praised this sunflower movement for its historical insight. However, the protestors across the Taiwan Strait were not so lucky. At 8AM of March 30, tens of thousands of people in Maoming, Guangdong Province, protested against the local government plans to build the PX (xylene) chemical plant. In the demonstration, they held slogans stating "PX project, Get out of Maoming," and "Protect the public health." At 7PM, people gathered again in front of the Municipal Government. The Guangdong authorities dispatched a large number of armed police and soldiers to conduct forced eviction using tear gas and water cannons. Violent clashes broke out. Wu Fan: "The PX plant is a very poisonous chemical industry. There are at least a dozen of these plants in China, situated in residential areas. For their own and the next generation's future, they protest but only meet armed suppression. It has been so frequent in China these years. This is the Communist system, the autocratic regime. The so-called economic interests care for none of the people's interests but that of the regime. It is exactly the opposite approach of Taiwan." Local media had no report of this clash. Posts on the Internet were deleted. On the 31st, netizens revealed through the Web saying that at least 8 died, 80 seriously injured, and 200 minor injured. Lan Su: "With the same cultural background, but people share completely different freedom under two different political systems." Wu Fan: "There is no freedom of speech, media, press, or Internet under the dictatorial regime. Everything is blocked. But, Taiwan keeps everything public to the world, as long as it does not violate the national interest and confidentiality. While in China, be it small or big, everything is a national secret. Only official notice from Xinhua News Agency can be reported." A netizen stated on the Weibo on the 31st: The chemical industry is not our future, but these toxic chemicals are killing our children. What is our children's future? We will soon be gone as we are old, but what about our children? 《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/

• published: 01 Apr 2014
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