Even if dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) made certain contributions to Taiwan, they should still be held responsible for the murders of political dissidents, Taiwan Art-in Design president Ronald Tsao (曹欽榮) said,
Tsao, whose work studio has been entrusted by the Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park with a project collecting and compiling records related to political persecution during the White Terror period, said that all verdicts concerning dissidents had to be approved by Chiang Kai-shek personally, and that there were cases in which Chiang Kai-shek changed a sentence of life in prison to the death penalty.
Tsao said that during the martial law period, Chiang Kai-shek’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo held many important positions such as director of political warfare and the information director of the Presidential Office and was in charge of commanding the secret service and handling dissident information. He added that, as president, it would be quite easy for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to find out how the two Chiangs prosecuted and murdered dissidents.
Tsao said he is therefore opposed to the Ma government’s plan to change the name of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall back to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and asked if the government is trying to worship a dictator who murdered his own people.
The memorial park’s administration recently unveiled an updated list of White Terror victims, totaling 8,296 names, which is seven times the number disclosed in 1999 by the Bo Yang Human Rights Educational Foundation.
Tsao said the list of political victims during the White Terror came to light because of the creation of the National Archives Administration in 2004. Then president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) ordered a thorough search for files related to the 228 Incident and many documents such as written verdicts from the White Terror were also discovered, he said.
Chang Yi-jung (張旖容) only recently found out — 56 years after her grandfather, political prisoner Huang Wen-kung (黃溫恭) was executed — that he had left behind five letters to his family.
She said: “Nazi perpetrators who murdered Jews are still being put on trial today. It is quite strange that more and more victims are being discovered in Taiwan, but we haven’t seen any perpetrators yet.”
“I don’t think Chiang Kai-shek did this all by himself — who were the others? The government said that there needs to be transitional justice, but they haven’t gone after the perpetrators, so who can we forgive?” she said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS