By Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Angie Teo
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Thousands of people demonstrated in front of Taiwan’s parliament on Tuesday after the adoption of a reform program aimed at increasing government surveillance, pushed by the opposition but opposed by the ruling party, which does not didn’t have the numbers to block it.
The peaceful protests, and sometimes violent clashes in parliament over the reforms, are taking place amid broader concern over efforts by China, which considers Taiwan its own territory, to influence the island’s politics.
Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency in January elections, but the party lost its majority in Parliament. Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), along with the small Taiwan People’s Party, together hold the largest number of seats.
Parliamentary reforms give lawmakers the power to ask the military, private companies or individuals to disclose information deemed relevant by parliamentarians.
They also criminalize contempt of Parliament by government officials and require the president to regularly report to Parliament and answer questions from lawmakers, which would be a first in Taiwan.
The DPP says the reforms were imposed without proper consultation and that their content is either vague or an excess of power. On Tuesday, its MPs threw trash bags and paper airplanes at their opposition counterparts.
“You can seize Parliament but you cannot seize public opinion,” DPP parliamentary leader Ker Chien-ming said in a speech to the chamber, adding that Beijing had influenced Taiwanese politics.
Opposition MPs, holding sun-shaped balloons, shouted “let the sunlight enter Parliament”. Both parties covered the room with banners.
The KMT has denounced the DPP for trying to “paint them red,” the color of the Chinese Communist Party, and says the DPP is trying to thwart efforts to investigate corruption cases and sow unfounded fears about corruption. reforms.
In front of Parliament, demonstrators showed their anger at the reforms adopted and also shouted “refuse Chinese political interference”, among other slogans.
“It’s the voice of the people,” said Zheng Hung-gun, 33, who works in the food industry. “The Taiwanese are not afraid of external enemies, but we are worried about our internal enemies.”
On Friday evening, tens of thousands of people took to the streets around Parliament to protest against the reforms.
Several senior KMT leaders have visited China this year, in what the party sees as an effort to keep lines of communication open. He denies being pro-Beijing.
China refuses to speak to Lai or the DPP, calling them “separatists.” Lai says only the people of Taiwan can decide its future and has repeatedly proposed negotiations with China, but these have been rebuffed.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Angie Teo; writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by Nick Macfie)
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