Taiwan’s youth protest plans by lawmakers favoring closer China ties to tighten scrutiny of president

Taipei CNN —

Thousands of mostly young protesters surrounded Taiwan’s legislature late into the night on Tuesday, protesting a push by opposition parties to subject the island’s new leader and his administration to tighter scrutiny from a parliament controlled by lawmakers who favor closer ties to China.

The protest marks a chaotic start to the presidency of Lai Ching-te, who was sworn in Monday after winning a historic third consecutive term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which champions Taiwan’s sovereignty and is loathed by Beijing.

It also illustrates the challenges Lai’s fledgling administration faces without a parliamentary majority, which is now controlled by two opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

Demonstrators are angered by what they see as the KMT and TPP’s attempt to fast track a bill through the legislature, which would grant the parliament sweeping powers to impose greater oversight over the executive branch of government.

Some protesters carried sunflowers, in a nod to the student-led protest movement in 2014 that saw hundreds of students occupying the legislature for weeks in protest against the KMT’s controversial trade deal with China. Those protests were instrumental two years later in the electoral defeat of the KMT, which has since been unable to recapture the presidency.

Under the proposed legislation, government officials could be fined or jailed under what critics say is a vaguely worded new criminal offense of “contempt of parliament,” if they were found making false statements to the legislature.

They could also be punished if they refused to answer questions or provide documents, or withheld information during hearings.

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