The brutal murders of Carnegie Mellon University associate professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) in 1981 and of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) family members in 1980 have aroused debate again.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has promised that he will open up new investigations into these unsolved cases if he is elected president, while blaming the DPP for doing nothing about the cases during the seven years it has been in power. However, Ma's claims are not true.
From my personal experience I know that the DPP government has spared no efforts in its attempts to collect evidence over the past seven years in the hope that the truth would be uncovered and justice brought to the victims' families.
After assuming the chairmanship of the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) on May 20, 2000, I immediately instructed the Preparatory Office of the National Archives Administration (NAA) -- which was officially established in October of the following year -- to form a task force of academics and NAA staff members divided into several sub groups to collect documentation related to the 228 Incident, the Kaohsiung Incident and other unsolved political crimes of the authoritarian era, including the Chen and Lin cases.
A total of 53,000 documents were collected related to the 228 Incident, but they were still incomplete because so many years had passed and many of the victims had not been officially tried in court.
Despite that, we could still see that when Executive Administrator Chen Yi (陳儀) came to Taiwan he monopolized power over the military government, plundered the public and deprived them of their political rights. Some of the documents show how badly the KMT government treated the Taiwanese people, including Taiwanese, called banshan, who had moved to China during the Japanese colonial period and had returned together with the KMT. Some of the documents, however, did not coincide with the truth.
For instance, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at National Taiwan University, Lin Mao-sheng (林茂生), was recorded as serving a four-year jail sentence in Tainan, when in fact he had been murdered. Academics wrote articles based on these documents and the "Tahsi Files" that were uncovered.
We also collected 10,000 documents related to the Kaohsiung Incident that described how prisoners made confessions against their will and emotional pleas in military court. These showed how the KMT authorities sharpened their swords prior to the incident and how they spied on prisoners' families and foreign journalists after the incident. Unfortunately, there weren't any documents saying whether or not president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) had a hand in any of the cases.
We also collected many documents from the White Terror era. Many of these were in the Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation's touring exhibition early this year and were given to the NAA by the Ministry of National Defense. Dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) would act as judge and jury, signing the death sentences. Pictures of the victims before and after their execution had to be submitted to Chiang.
Since the police authorities said the investigations into Chen's and Lin's cases have never been closed, the files were not transferred. I have personally inquired with the police authorities and they have indicated that the files are limited. President Chen Shui-bian (
The National Archives Act (國家檔案法), passed in 1999, regulates the NAA. During the four years I served as chairman of the RDEC, I adhered to the principle that the archives are public assets. Taiwan's transition from an authoritarian regime to a democracy and the truth about many historical incidents could be highlighted through these archives and maybe even help bring about transitional justice.
Unfortunately, the national archives are incomplete when relating to political events, including the murders of Chen and Lin's family members. Even officials at the NAA are unable to access these documents. The NAA does not have the power to force the KMT to submit all documents and is therefore unable to remedy the Act's shortcomings. However, during the three years and six months since I left, the NAA should have gathered even more material relating to political incidents. The Cabinet should demand that these be made public.
Lin Chia-cheng is a minister in the Examination Yuan.
Translated by Ted Yang
The US election result will significantly impact its foreign policy with global implications. As tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait and conflicts elsewhere draw attention away from the western Pacific, Taiwan was closely monitoring the election, as many believe that whoever won would confront an increasingly assertive China, especially with speculation over a potential escalation in or around 2027. A second Donald Trump presidency naturally raises questions concerning the future of US policy toward China and Taiwan, with Trump displaying mixed signals as to his position on the cross-strait conflict. US foreign policy would also depend on Trump’s Cabinet and
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump is to be the 47th president of the US after beating his Democratic rival, US Vice President Kamala Harris, in the election on Tuesday. Trump’s thumping victory — winning 295 Electoral College votes against Harris’ 226 as of press time last night, along with the Republicans winning control of the US Senate and possibly the House of Representatives — is a remarkable political comeback from his 2020 defeat to US President Joe Biden, and means Trump has a strong political mandate to implement his agenda. What does Trump’s victory mean for Taiwan, Asia, deterrence
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
RSS