Long-time Taiwan independence advocate Su Beng (史明), 97, is affectionately known by the epithet Uncle Su Beng. Su’s monumental memoirs — which reach an impressive length of more than 1,000 pages and are to be published by Avanguard Press on May 20, the same day that president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to be sworn in as president — are of both political and cultural significance.
In the mid-1990s, when former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was still in office, Su — a unique presence within Taiwan’s pro-independence community — returned to Taiwan after about 40 years in exile, disregarding the risk of imprisonment. Apart from his advocation of socialist ideals, Su has also set the tone for Taiwanese nationalism, and he is synonymous with the Taiwan Independence Association (TIA).
After returning to Taiwan, being imprisoned and then released, Su turned the TIA, which he leads, into a leading light among Taiwan’s civic movements, that gradually became known throughout Taiwanese society. The young people who participated in the Sunflower movement are highly respectful of Su, and students from various universities published a book based on Su’s oral history.
In the eyes of young people, Su and democracy movement pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) are important role models.
Su, who was born in 1918, sees himself as a lifelong revolutionary who fights for his ideals without ever looking back.
Deng, who was born in 1947 and insisted on full and unrestricted freedom of expression, burned himself to death in 1989. The two have both helped set an example for Taiwanese politics in the post-World War II period, and Deng even published Su’s monumental work Taiwan’s 400-Year History (台灣人四百年史) in Taiwan while Su was still in exile.
Su’s memoirs give a detailed account of his life and his career. His revolutionary dreams and his exile unfold in Taiwan, China and Japan, and they also extend to the US, Canada and Europe. He has the mind of an artist, but is also capable of dialectical thought. He engaged with “Red” China and then moved on, as he was attracted to Marxism yet criticial of the myths surrounding the Chinese Communist Party and the former Soviet Union.
After World War II, Su held a unique position in the Taiwanese independence movement during the time when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) monopolized power in the Republic of China (ROC). He both worked together and competed with other pro-independence groups, and his memoirs contain both confessions and criticism. In the 21st century, Su has maintained contacts with such people as Lee, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Tsai.
When Tsai was thanking supporters during her post-election gathering on Jan. 16, she made special mention of Su, who was sitting just below the stage. It is difficult to put words to the meeting between a revolutionary who has stood outside the establishment and a reformer who is part of the establishment, but together, the two have shone a light on a path leading to a more democratic and a more independent future for Taiwan.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS