台湾驱散反两岸贸易协定抗议者

Riot police cleared Taiwan’s Cabinet offices of scores of protesters opposed to a trade pact with China on Monday after a last-minute plea from President Ma Ying-jeou failed to defuse a five-day stand-off.

台湾防暴警察周一驱散了滞留在行政院办公室的数十名反对与中国大陆签订贸易协定的抗议者。在此之前，台湾总统马英九曾试图与抗议者达成和解，结束长达5天的对峙，但没有成功。

At least 58 protesters were arrested and dozens injured in the clashes which represent a sharp escalation in tensions over the island’s developing ties with mainland China. The police had been ordered to evict the protesters after the executive compound was occupied late on Sunday night.

在这次冲突中，至少有58名抗议者被捕，数十人受伤。近年来，围绕是否要与中国大陆加深经贸往来，台湾内部存在着紧张对立，而最新冲突表明这种紧张关系正在加剧。周日晚，在抗议者占领行政院大楼后，台湾警方接到了驱逐这些抗议者的命令。

Demonstrators had staged a sit-in at the Taiwanese legislature since Tuesday to protest the fast-tracking of an accord to lower the barriers on trade in services, making it easier for mainland Chinese companies to invest in Taiwan and vice versa. The sit-in had drawn crowds of supporters to the surrounding streets and demonstrations of support from Taiwanese living overseas.

自上周二以来，示威者一直在台湾立法院静坐，抗议台湾当局匆忙签订一份降低服务业贸易壁垒的协定。这一协定会让中国大陆企业更易于投资台湾，同时台湾企业对大陆的投资门槛也会相应降低。这一静坐活动吸引了成群结队的支持者，他们聚集在立法院周边的街道上。与此同时，一些居住在海外的台湾人也表达了对抗议者的声援。

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taipei and does not maintain diplomatic relations with nations that recognise Taiwan. Opponents of the trade deal fear it would give mainland China too much control over the economy of independently-governed Taiwan.

中国政府宣称对台湾拥有主权；对于承认台湾有独立主权的国家，北京方面会终止两国间的外交关系。这一贸易协定的反对者担心，它可能会赋予中国大陆对台湾经济的过多控制权，令原本独立自主的台湾经济上受制于人。

The protests come after several years of warming relations and growing economic integration between China and Taiwan, whose unresolved conflicts are one of the biggest potential flashpoints in Asia.

在这次抗议活动爆发之前的几年里，中国大陆和台湾的关系不断升温，经济整合日益加强。然而，两者间仍未从根源上解决的矛盾却是亚洲最大的潜在导火索之一。

Taiwan’s ruling Kuomingtang party, which fled mainland China after losing a civil war to the Communists in 1949, supports the pact, as do many Taiwanese industrialists with extensive investments in the mainland.

台湾目前当政的国民党(Kuomingtang)于1949年内战失败后逃至台湾。国民党对这一贸易协定持支持态度。同样支持该协定的，还包括许多在大陆有大量投资的台湾实业家。

President Ma, whose administration has signed a number of trade and economic agreements with mainland China, defended the pact and called for crowds to go home in a press conference on Sunday. “I tell you once again, with a responsible attitude, that this is completely for the sake of Taiwan’s economic future,” he said.

周日，台湾总统马英九曾在记者招待会上为该协定辩护，呼吁人们回到家中。他说：“我要再次以负责任的态度向各位报告，这完全是为了台湾经济的未来。”马英九政府自当政以来，已和大陆签下一系列经贸协定。

The opposition Democratic Progressive party warned that opening the services sector to Chinese ownership would tighten Beijing’s grip on the much smaller island of Taiwan. The DPP lacks the votes to block the pact when it comes up for final parliamentary review on April 8.

反对党民进党(Democratic Progressive)则警告说，将服务业企业的所有权向中国大陆人开放，可能会令中国政府加强对台湾的控制。这一协定将于4月8日提交立法院终审，民进党届时将缺乏足够选票阻止该协定通过。

The Taiwanese economy is already heavily dependent on China. Local banks had the equivalent of $64.92bn in exposure to Chinese loans, investments and interbank deposits at the end of December, or one-quarter of total, according to central bank data, leaving them more exposed to China than any other country.

台湾经济已严重依赖中国大陆。根据台湾央行的数据，去年12月底，台湾当地银行对大陆贷款、投资及银行间存款的风险敞口达649.2亿美元，占台湾当地银行对外总风险敞口的四分之一。这一数字令这些银行对中国大陆的依赖程度超过了对其他任何国家的依赖。