[3][4][5] The activists protested the passage of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) by the then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT) at the legislature without a clause-by-clause review.

[13] The KMT backed down later and said that a joint review committee could be formed if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agreed to participate in the proceedings.

The KMT had chaired eight public hearings within a week, and several members of social groups, NGOs, and business representatives from impacted industries were either not invited or informed at the last minute.

[9] When academics and business sector representatives gave their opinions at the hearings, then presiding chair of the legislature's Internal Administrative Committee, KMT legislator Chang Ching-chung, said the agreement had to be adopted in its entirety and could not be amended.

[9] On March 18 around 9:00 p.m. local time, crowds of students, academics, civic organizations, and other protestors climbed over the fence at the legislature and entered the building.

The protesters demanded that the clause-by-clause review of the agreement be reinstated, otherwise they vowed to occupy the legislature until March 21, when the Yuan had scheduled to vote and pass the CSSTA.

[3] At a press conference on March 23, President Ma restated his resolve in passing the trade pact and affirmed he did not act following orders from Beijing.

[32][33] In response to the press conference, a group of protesters led by Dennis Wei[34] stormed and occupied the Executive Yuan around 7:30 p.m. local time on March 23.

[36] During the 10-hour eviction process, around 1000 riot police and other law enforcement personnel reportedly used excessive force, including water cannon and baton strikes to the head against the nonviolent protesters, while journalists and medics were ordered to leave.

[41][42] On March 26, student protesters called for all legislators to support the establishment of a law for supervising cross-strait agreements before passing the recent trade in services pact.

The group was organized by Chang An-lo, a prominent Taiwanese gang leader also known as "White Wolf", who was on bail after being arrested on his return to Taiwan from China, where he had fled 17 years previously.

[63][64] In August 2014, a Taichung police officer was given a suspended 3-month prison sentence and fined for making an expletive-filled Facebook post against the protesting students.

[72] The High Court upheld that decision in March 2018[73][74] but in April 2020 overturned previous rulings on appeal and found seven protesters guilty of incitement, obstruction, theft, and damage of public property.

[79][80] In a meeting with Taiwanese politician James Soong on May 7, 2014, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping said that economic integration between China and Taiwan was mutually beneficial, would bring positive results for both sides and should not be disturbed.

[83] The organization aims to reform Taiwan's referendum laws and push for legislative review of the CSSTA, along with other cross-strait pacts and economic bills.

[84] On May 21, DPP legislators criticized the Mainland Affairs Council for classifying the disadvantages of the trade accord and releasing only information it considers favorable to the agreement.

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Cho Shih-chao said that research produced by academics is only used for internal reference for decision making.

[85] On June 9, deputy economics minister Woody Duh confirmed that since April, China had frozen negotiations with Taiwan over the merchandise trade agreement originally projected to be signed at the end of 2014.

[87] The Legislative Yuan held an extraordinary session on June 13 to review the services trade pact and the draft bill to increase scrutiny of future cross-strait agreements.

In 2015, the New Power Party emerged from the Sunflower Movement, advocating universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independence.

[101] Zhang met with his Taiwanese counterpart, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, with groups of protesters held back by police cordons.

[107][108][109] When Zhang arrived at a casual meeting with Wang Yu-chi at Sizihwan Sunset Beach Resort in Xiziwan, Gushan District on June 27 around 8:10 pm, protesters organized by Taiwan Solidarity Union and Black Island National Youth Front greeted the motorcade by spraying white paint and throwing ghost money, shouting slogans such as "One Country on Each Side" and "Zhang Zhijun get out of here".

[111] More than 200 professors and industry experts issued joint statements and held panel discussions warning the national security risks raised in the opening of the type II telecommunication services outlined in the trade pact.

In the statement, the professors also asked if "sending [Taiwan's] educated youth to China for work [was] the government's only solution for the nation's low wage and wealth gap problems.

[115] Multiple Taiwanese entertainers, including Deserts Chang, Giddens Ko, and Lin Cheng-sheng criticized the government's eviction of students from the Executive Yuan.

[116] On March 22, Premier Jiang Yi-huah met with protesters but declined to withdraw the deal or agree to legislation monitoring future cross-strait agreements, saying that the two issues required the involvement of the Executive Yuan and President Ma Ying-jeou.

[122] The General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China [zh] (ROCCOC) held a press conference with representatives from 50 impacted service industries on March 26 to express their support for the trade pact.

[125] The Ministry of Economic Affairs held presentations explaining the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement at multiple universities across northern Taiwan.

[127] In a speech to the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce on June 10, then Premier Jiang Yi-huah criticized the movement, saying protestors were people who "complain all day long about the government" and "blame others for their failures.

Senator Sherrod Brown, who is a founding member of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, urged Ma to ensure a non-violent, peaceful resolution: My thoughts are with Taiwanese students and other protesters expressing opposition to a proposed economic pact with China.