National Taiwan University’s (NTU) university affairs committee yesterday passed a proposal to name a campus plaza in honor of NTU Mathematics Department graduate Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), a well-known victim of the nation’s past authoritarian regime in a move lauded as a step toward transitional justice. The plaza is also to include a monument for Chen.
Born in 1950, Chen went to the US for his doctorate after leaving NTU and worked as an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s department of statistics.
Like many of the young people who went abroad to study at the time, Chen closely followed political developments in Taiwan and participated in US-based Taiwanese student associations and human rights groups.
Photocopied by Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
He returned to Taiwan for a visit in 1981.
A supporter of Taiwan’s democratic movement who had made donations to the pro-democracy Formosa Magazine, Chen was found dead next to the NTU graduate library on July 3, 1981.
He had been taken by the Taiwan Garrison Command for questioning the previous day.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
His death remains unsolved.
At the NTU committee meeting yesterday, the proposal was discussed and put to a vote.
With 75 votes in favor and 22 against, the motion passed.
The plaza next to where Chen’s body was found is to be named “Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Plaza.” A monument inscribed with Chen’s story is to be built as well.
NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) said the move is a milestone in the nation’s democratic development.
NTU Graduate Students Association president Sherry Chou (周芷萱) called it the university’s first step to transitional justice, and said that there is a wide consensus that the monument should be erected as soon as possible.
An event held every year on July 3 in memorial of Chen will continue to take place to inspire people to remember the nation’s history, she added.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS