The passing of US Senator Ted Kennedy on Aug. 25 brings back many memories of his actions in the late 1970s and early 1980s in support of Taiwan’s democracy.
The senator’s interest in Taiwan was prompted by contact with the Taiwanese-American community in the mid-1970s. His leadership was most prominent after the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authorities arrested virtually all leaders of the democratic opposition. His office often and openly expressed his concerns to the KMT government about the human rights of the detained political leaders.
In retrospect, we can say that during the dark days after the Kaohsiung Incident, Senator Kennedy demonstrated to us that there is no international boundary when it comes to human rights. It was an opportunity for we Taiwanese to have a close look at — and appreciate — his deeply held beliefs in fundamental values we share with the US.
Together with Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and representatives Jim Leach (an Iowa Republican) and Stephen Solarz (a New York Democrat), Senator Kennedy then played a key role in Taiwan’s transition to democracy. We referred to him and his colleagues as our “Gang of Four.” His strong sense of justice and his keen desire to side with the weak and disenfranchised made him stand up for human rights and democracy when it counted.
The Taiwanese people will always be thankful to him for calling attention to the lack of democracy and to the fact that in the early 1980s, Taiwan still lived under martial law, which had been in force since 1949.
On May 20, 1982, on the occasion of 33 years of martial law, he said: “It is clear that too many citizens are jailed in Taiwan for expressing their political views and defending their human rights. I therefore call on the leadership of Taiwan to take immediate action to release political and religious prisoners and to improve the human rights situation on the island.”
He often called on the KMT to release the political and religious leaders who were imprisoned after the Kaohsiung Incident, including Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) of the Presbyterian Church, and then Provincial Assembly member Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄), whose mother and two of three daughters were murdered while Lin was in prison. The case is yet to be solved.
Kennedy was also concerned about Taiwan’s future. On Feb. 28, 1983, he and senators Claiborne Pell, John Glenn and David Durenberger introduced a resolution in the US Senate urging “that Taiwan’s future should be settled peacefully, free of coercion and in a manner acceptable to the people of Taiwan.” The initiative demonstrated Kennedy’s vision for Taiwan and its future.
In the early 1980s Senator Kennedy also played a leading role in legislation alloting a separate immigration quota of 20,000 for Taiwan. This had been “lost” when — after the US derecognized the KMT government as the government of China and established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on Jan. 1, 1979 — Taiwan was lumped together with China for immigration quota purposes.
The efforts by Kennedy and his colleagues in Congress helped bring about Taiwan’s transition to democracy and strengthened the democratic opposition, which coalesced and led to the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party in September 1986, and the end of martial law in 1987. However, it wasn’t until 1992 that democratic elections were held for all seats in the Legislative Yuan, and not until 1996 that Taiwanese were able to directly elect their own president.
The people of Taiwan fondly remember Senator Kennedy as one who stood with them throughout one of the most difficult periods of Taiwan’s history. We will dearly miss him.
Mark Chen is a former foreign minister.
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
After the coup in Burma in 2021, the country’s decades-long armed conflict escalated into a full-scale war. On one side was the Burmese army; large, well-equipped, and funded by China, supported with weapons, including airplanes and helicopters from China and Russia. On the other side were the pro-democracy forces, composed of countless small ethnic resistance armies. The military junta cut off electricity, phone and cell service, and the Internet in most of the country, leaving resistance forces isolated from the outside world and making it difficult for the various armies to coordinate with one another. Despite being severely outnumbered and
After the confrontation between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday last week, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, discussed this shocking event in an interview. Describing it as a disaster “not only for Ukraine, but also for the US,” Bolton added: “If I were in Taiwan, I would be very worried right now.” Indeed, Taiwanese have been observing — and discussing — this jarring clash as a foreboding signal. Pro-China commentators largely view it as further evidence that the US is an unreliable ally and that Taiwan would be better off integrating more deeply into
RSS