Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday of insincerity in promoting reconciliation with victims of political persecution.
Ma’s paying tribute to dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and planning to change the name of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall back to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall showed that the Ma government has never reviewed the massacre conducted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Tsai said.
“When Ma bows and sheds tears in front of the body of the main culprit [Chiang], he rubs salt in the wounds of victims of the 228 Incident and the White Terror,” Tsai said at a ceremony to commemorate victims of the two events.
PHOTO: CNA
The ceremony, organized by the DPP, took place at the main entrance of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall under the Liberty Square archway.
The former DPP government renamed the memorial in 2007 as part of its efforts to remove symbols commemorating Chiang. The DPP also replaced the inscription on the hall’s entry arch, dazhong zhizheng (大中至正), meaning Chiang’s “great neutrality and perfect uprightness,” to “Liberty Square” (自由廣場) and redecorated the hall.
“Although the Ma government has proposed reinstating the title of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, it has never reviewed or apologized for the KMT’s violence,” Tsai said.
The KMT respects Chiang, while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) venerates Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and both parties do everything they can to avoid facing the massacres they committed, she said.
Now that the KMT and CCP have reconciled, both are cooperating to legitimize their rule and rationalize their massacres, she said.
While the KMT government held a ceremony to commemorate victims of the White Terror yesterday, it was not sincere in holding the event, she said.
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said copies of military court rulings in Chiang’s handwriting showed Chiang often changed lighter sentences to heavier sentences and heavier sentences to the death penalty.
The 228 Incident was a rebellion against KMT rule sparked on Feb. 27, 1947. It has been estimated that some 20,000 people were killed by KMT troops in the months following the rebellion.
As Chiang dispatched KMT troops to Taiwan, many believe he should bear the largest share of responsibility for the tragedy.
The White Terror began soon after the 228 Incident, when the government launched a brutal military crackdown against locals protesting the administration of executive administrator Chen Yi (陳儀), who was appointed by the KMT government to govern Taiwan after World War II. Martial law was enacted briefly at that time.
In the following years, tens of thousands of people were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and murdered.
During the White Terror era, the KMT government killed tens of thousands of suspected dissidents, mainly the Taiwanese intellectual and social elite, as it searched for communist agents, sympathizers and others it feared could pose a threat to its rule.
The powerful Taiwan Garrison Command identified suspects through its widespread secret-agent system.
Also See: REMEMBERING THE WHITE TERROR: Ma promises to increase efforts for compensation
Also See: REMEMBERING THE WHITE TERROR: Prisoner shares violin tale
Also See: REMEMBERING THE WHITE TERROR: Researcher says Chiangs should be held responsible
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS