The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) cannot evade its responsibility for past human rights violations and will face up to the past honestly, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
Speaking at a memorial concert in Taipei on International Human Rights Day, Ma said whether it is the 228 Incident or the White Terror era, his party must face its mistakes with a reflective attitude.
“Incidents of human rights violations have occurred around the world. They have happened here. The government back then and the government now are the same — the KMT. So we cannot evade that and there is no need to do so,” the president said.
Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP
“Let us face the past honestly and reflect with sincerity to restore the truth and give comfort to the families,” he said.
The 228 Incident refers to the crackdown launched by the then-KMT regime following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947. Martial law was imposed later that year and not lifted until 1987. Thousands of people were killed during that era, which became known as the White Terror, and an estimated 140,000 to 200,000 were imprisoned.
Ma presented certificates of appreciation to several political victims and their relatives who contributed to research and education on the atrocities by donating memorabilia to the government.
Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP
The concert was attended by more than 300 White Terror victims and their families, as well as Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台).
Performers and descendants of some of the victims performed songs in memory of those who suffered or lost their lives.
Meanwhile, a group of people who were either involved in the Kaohsiung Incident or its aftermath gathered to commemorate Human Rights Day and expressed concern about the human rights situation in Taiwan.
The Kaohsiung Incident refers a government crackdown on organizers and participants in an anti-government parade in the city on Dec. 10, 1979, organized by Formosa Magazine.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), one of eight people jailed in the ensuing crackdown, accused Ma of inaction on promoting human rights.
“While history must move forward, some people are trying to take the country back [to the authoritarian era]. What concerns me the most on this day is that most people have either forgotten about or do not yet know about Taiwan’s past struggles,” she said.
Chou Ching-yu (周清玉), wife of former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), said that the current administration’s infringement of human rights is astonishing and that Taiwanese have to work together to voice their opposition of the injustice.
“That Taiwan’s human rights development has been backsliding in recent years is undeniable. The Ma administration has not engaged in substantial action despite its boasts about having ratified a pair of international human rights covenants,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at a separate event in Pingtung County.
In a Facebook message, former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote: “What glorifies a country is not its assets, nor the violence it resorts in repressing people. It is its effort to safeguard human rights — the freedoms and equality that every man is entitled to enjoy.”
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
COUNTERING THE PLA: While the US should reinforce its relations with partners and allies, Taiwan must invest in strengthening its defenses as well, Phillip Davidson said If influence in the Indo-Pacific region is one of the US’ core interests, then Taiwan serves as a cornerstone of US economic and security influence in the region, former US Indo-Pacific Command commander admiral Phillip Davidson said on Thursday. “China’s ... strategy is to supplant the US leadership role in the international order ... and they’ve long said ... that they intend to do that by 2050,” Davidson told the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in Washington. Davidson said he had previously told US Senate hearings on China’s military activities and possible threats in the Indo-Pacific region that a Chinese invasion of
RSS