ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the organization and strategies that characterized the Sunflower Movement reflect the organic growth of Taiwan's protest movements in general over the past years. It discusses the Sunflower Movement's impact on Taiwan's political landscape and civil society. In the years preceding the Sunflower Movement, activists became convinced that the cross-strait rapprochement could not be contained to economic transactions. Civic groups warned that the cross-strait liberalization of trade in services, a result of 'Black Box' negotiations, might pull Taiwan even closer to China, especially if People's Republic of China (PRC) state-owned enterprises were to gain access to sensitive sectors such as publishing, banking and telecommunications. The sunflower image, though accidental, nevertheless conveyed a fitting narrative to the goal of the movement, as the central demand of an oversight mechanism can be equated with the request to shed light into the 'Black Box'.
