With most international attention focused on events in Ukraine and Crimea, relatively little attention has been given to mass protests in Taiwan. A student-led movement has occupied the government's legislature and taken to the streets to demonstrate against a cross-strait trade agreement that is the centerpiece of President Ma Ying-jeou's political and economic agenda.
The protests draw on the uneasiness felt throughout Taiwan brought about by the increasingly tight cross-strait economic relationship. Ma must address that unease, but he should not do so in a way that sends the wrong signal about extraparliamentary activity. Taiwan has a working democracy. Indeed that is one of the island's greatest accomplishments. Its processes must be respected.
Since Ma was first elected president in 2008, the cornerstone of his platform was strengthening the faltering Taiwan economy, and to do that he sought to build a stronger economic relationship with the mainland.
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