Less than two weeks before the 69th anniversary of the 228 Incident, the Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled in favor of Keisho Aoyama, the son of a Japanese victim of the massacre, in his compensation request.
The court ruled that he is eligible for NT$6 million (US$190,077) in compensation for his father’s death.
If the 228 Memorial Foundation and the Ministry of the Interior decide not to appeal, the ruling would make Aoyama the first foreigner to be compensated for the 228 Incident, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Aoyama, from Okinawa, Japan, filed for compensation with the 228 Memorial Foundation in 2011 (officially processed in 2013) for his father, Esaki Aoyama, who was, according to various records, captured by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime’s army in 1947 when his ship from Okinawa reached the shore of Keelung and was later reportedly murdered on Heping Island (和平島), which was at that time called Sheliao Island (社寮島).
Esaki Aoyama boarded the ship bound for Keelung for a reunion with his wife and son, who were still living in Keelung, after he returned from Vietnam as a draftee soldier.
Keisho Aoyama’s request was rejected by the foundation in 2014, despite his father being recognized as a 228 Incident victim. With the help of the TAHR and Taiwanese lawyers, he filed an administrative lawsuit with the Taipei High Administrative Court in September last year.
The court said in its press release that the Feb. 28 Incident Disposition and Compensation Act (二 二 八事件處理及賠償條例), promulgated in 1995, does not state that compensation should be restricted to Taiwanese.
Taiwan also ratified in 2009 two international human rights covenants, it said, adding that any violation of human rights should be effectively compensated with no discriminatory treatment.
Hsueh Chin-feng (薛欽峰), the lawyer representing Keisho Aoyama, lauded the decision as a “historic ruling,” saying its significance lies in having set a precedent that regardless of nationality, everyone should be equally protected by the law.
“The court stated that the 228 compensation act, a special law, has priority over the State Compensation Law (國家賠償法), a general law,” Hsueh, said referring to the ministry’s invoking of the Article 15 of the state compensation law that says the provisions of the law “shall be applicable to a foreign claimant only to the extent that the people of the Republic of China, according to a treaty, law, or custom of that person’s country, enjoy the same rights in that country.”
The ministry, the competent authority of the supposedly independent 228 Memorial Foundation, had hindered the approval of Keisho Aoyama’s compensation request by suggesting that since Japan has not compensated Taiwanese comfort women and former Taiwanese service personnel, “the principle of reciprocity” maintained in the state compensation law does not apply, TAHR said.
Keisho Aoyama, who appeared at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, said the ruling was “a groundbreaking one upholding justice and human rights,” thanking those who had offered him assistance along the way.
“While the problems of Taiwanese comfort women and Japanese soldiers still exist, the ruling is a great deed in its attempt to overcome this vicious cycle,” he said.
He called on the government and the foundation not to appeal the ruling.
TAHR executive board member Fort Liao (廖福特) echoed the call, asking the ministry “not to manufacture more excuses, especially during a period of transition of power.”
“This is belated justice. Financial compensation is not the point; what matters most is the state’s recognition of Esaki Aoyama as a victim of the state’s human rights violations,” Liao said.
“The ruling shows that the state cannot avoid its responsibility because the victim of the state’s human rights violation is a foreigner,” he said.
228 Memorial Foundation chief executive Liao Chie-ping (廖繼斌) said the foundation’s board would meet on Wednesday next week to discuss the ruling and that he hoped the conclusion would be announced before Feb. 28.
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