Worried that growing economic ties with mainland China would encroach on Taiwan’s businesses, demonstrators on Sunday night staked out inside Taiwan’s government headquarters to protest a trade agreement with the mainland, Reuters reported. The agreement, due to be ratified on April 8, would open 80 of the mainland’s service sectors to Taiwan and 64 Taiwan sectors to the mainland. Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang, the incumbent political party, hoped the deal would secure entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a broad trade deal among 12 countries around the Asia-Pacific region. Cross-strait relations have improved considerably since the mainland-friendly Ma won the presidency in 2008.
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