For the past thirteen days, hundreds of students have been holed inside the Taiwanese parliament building, while thousands more have been sitting outside government offices in downtown Taipei. Their demand is simple: they are against "black box" politics, whereby the discussions leading up to the drafting and adoption of a trade pact that would impact millions of livelihoods, and potentially the very autonomy of the nation, is completely intransparent and lacks accountability. They are against a government that refuses to engage in dialogue, that refuses to respect the democratic process and the rule of law, and that seems completely oblivious to the demands of the common people. They want an article-by-article review of the law and a renegotiation of a trade pact that even to ardent free-trade economists baffles logic. Why would any country willingly open up its doors to another which, with its sheer market size and much lower costs of labour and prosicution, be able to swamp the economy with cheap and substandard products and services? Why would Taiwan, technically still at war with its goliath neighbour China, which has thousands of missiles pointed toward it and even vowed to invade and "liberate" the island, freely allow Chinese money to come into sectors vital to the country's security and sovereignty, like telecommunications and the media? The trade pact has (rightly) been labeled as a secret deal by a pro-Beijing government in power which aims to deliver the island nation to Beijing on a golden platter. It goes in line with China's long term ambition to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, but with economic and market measures and without the firing of a single bullet.

The actions of these tudents have been dubbed the "Sunflower Movement", named after the flower that seeks sunlight, inspired by the hope that transparency and acountability can shed light on the actions of the government. Contrary to how theyare portrayed in pro-government and-China media, they are not an unruly mob bent on destruction and turmoil. They are a group of well-organised and vocal youngsters who, like their counterparts in the streets of Cairo or Kiev, fear their country and their futures are disintegrating under the rule of autocracy and corruption. They enjoy the support of a wide swath of society, from fishermen to farmers to small- and medium-size business owners, who are the backbone of Taiwan's export-based economy, and who, spearheaded the country's "economic miracle". The students also enjoy the support of trade unions,  lawyers, doctors, celebrities and members of the academic community. Their actions, though some may term illegal, is an expression of their freedom of their desperation and frustration, an expression of the hardearnee freedom to assemble and protest. The strongest hurdle is against a ruling party that owns a majority seats in parliament, and a the president (who The Economist has called a "bumbler") who enjoys a meagre 9% of popular support.  

According to a poll, over two thirds of the population want an article by article review of the trade pact, if not a complete renegotiation of the terms so that Taiwan can enjoy a more level playing field when it comes to free trade and opening up its economy.