TAIPEI
\nThousands of people protested outside Taiwan\u2019s parliament on Tuesday after it passed a reform package to increase oversight of the government pushed by the opposition but opposed by the ruling party, which did not have the numbers to block it.
\nThe peaceful protests, and sometimes violent confrontations in parliament over the reforms, have been taking place against a backdrop of broader concern about efforts by China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, to influence the island\u2019s politics.
\nThe Democratic Progressive Party\u2019s (DPP) Lai Ching-te won the presidency in January elections, but the party lost its majority in parliament. Taiwan\u2019s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), along with the small Taiwan People\u2019s Party, together have the most seats.
\nThe parliament reforms give lawmakers the power to ask the military, private companies or individuals to disclose information deemed relevant by parliamentarians.
\nThey also criminalize contempt of parliament by government officials, and require the president to give regular reports to parliament and answer lawmakers\u2019 questions, which would be a first for Taiwan.
\nThe DPP says the reforms were forced through without proper consultation and their content either vague or an over-reach of power, and on Tuesday its lawmakers threw garbage bags and paper planes at their opposition counterparts.
\n\u201cYou can seize parliament but you cannot seize public opinion,\u201d DPP parliament leader Ker Chien-ming said in an address to the chamber, adding that Beijing had influenced Taiwanese politics.
\nOpposition lawmakers, holding sun-shaped balloons, shouted \u201clet sunlight into parliament.\u201d Both parties covered the chamber with banners.
\nThe KMT has denounced the DPP for trying to \u201cpaint them red,\u201d the color of China\u2019s Communist Party, and says the DPP is trying to stymie efforts to investigate corruption cases and sow unfounded fears about the reforms.
\nOutside parliament, protesters showed their anger at the reforms being passed, and also shouted \u201crefuse Chinese political interference,\u201d among other slogans.
\n\u201cThis is the people\u2019s voice,\u201d said Zheng Hung-gun, 33, who works in the food industry. \u201cTaiwanese are not afraid of enemies from outside but we are worried about our internal enemies.\u201d
\nOn Friday night, tens of thousands thronged the roads around parliament protesting the reforms.
\nSeveral senior KMT leaders have visited China this year, in what the party says is an effort to keep lines of communication open. It denies being pro-Beijing.
\nChina refuses to speak to Lai or the DPP, saying they are \u201cseparatists.\u201d Lai says only Taiwan\u2019s people can decide their future and has repeatedly offered talks with China, but been rebuffed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI Thousands of people protested outside Taiwan\u2019s parliament on Tuesday after it passed a reform package to increase oversight of the government pushed by the opposition but opposed by the ruling party, which did not have the numbers to block it. The peaceful protests, and sometimes violent confrontations in parliament over the reforms, have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-409412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n