Taiwan independence pioneer and World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂) died yesterday from complications arising from sinus surgery. He was 79.
Ng was rushed to the National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital in Taipei after suffering heart failure halfway through surgery at the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center in Taipei earlier in the day.
Ng died of heart failure at around 11am, WUFI secretary--general Wang Kan-hou (王康厚) said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Taiwan Nation Alliance convener Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said Ng’s death was totally unexpected.
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] was grief-stricken to learn about Ng’s passing. He has devoted his whole life to Taiwan’s democracy and freedom and his spirit will live with us forever and call on us to fight for the well-being of the next generation. May he rest in peace,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told reporters at a campaign stop before she visited Ng’s family at the hospital.
Ng’s passing is a “great loss for the Taiwan independence movement,” said Lee Yeng-chyh (李永熾), a history professor.
“Ng has never wavered in his support for Taiwan’s independence. We should remember him for his determination, perseverance and his love for Taiwan,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
Tainan-born Ng was known for his decades of dedication to the independence movement. He was also one of the main organizers of the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally, widely seen as a crucial event contributing to former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) re-election, when more than 1 million Taiwanese formed a human chain across the west coast on Feb. 28, 2004.
Born in 1932 during the Japanese colonial era, Ng went to Japan for further study after graduating from NTU in 1958. He began participating in the independence movement the following year when he was working on his master’s degree at then-Tokyo Imperial University.
He founded the Taiwan Youth Society, the forerunner of today’s WUFI Japan office, in 1960 in Tokyo. That act led to him being placed on a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government blacklist, thereby barring him from returning to Taiwan.
Ng, who did not return to Taiwan until 1992, had served as WUFI chairman since 1995 and as a presidential adviser during Chen’s DPP administration.
A self-proclaimed supporter of “swift independence” when he was younger, Ng told the Taipei Times in an interview in August that his eventual goal would be “removing the ROC [Republic of China] political system, which was forced upon Taiwanese by the regime of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) after the end of World War II.”
However, he later adopted a more moderate approach, saying that the removal of the ROC system would take time and could not occur without a healthy combination of domestic political development, global trends and, most of all, the consensus and will of the public.
“The ROC is like a cap on the top of our head. If it’s rainy, we’ll have to wear it for now, but we are waiting for a sunny day to take it off,” he said in the interview. “I am very optimistic. The Taiwan independence movement will succeed someday.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
RSS