Hundreds of "White Terror" victims and their relatives yesterday launched a protest in front of the Executive Yuan, demanding equitable and fair treatment in the awarding of compensation for their unjust persecution during one of the darkest periods of Taiwan's history.
It was the second protest of its kind since the government established a special foundation with NT$10 billion in funds last December to handle the affair. The foundation was set up according to the terms of a law passed in May last year covering the disbursement of compensation for people who were persecuted during the so-called White Terror period.
The White Terror has come to be known as a period of severe repression in Taiwan's history when the government cracked down on numerous kinds of social movements under the directive of suppressing communism. Although details are often sketchy, it is commonly held to have begun in the early 1950s and continued until shortly before the lifting of martial law in 1987. Some 5,000 people are believed to have been executed and another 10,000 imprisoned during the period, according to justice ministry figures, though other sources claim the crackdown had as many as 90,000 victims.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lawmakers from the DPP and the New Party were joined by New Party presidential candidate Li Ao (
The main point of yesterday's protest was the calculation of the compensation amount for White Terror victims and relatives, ranging from NT$6 million at the highest to a basic level of NT$100,000. It is supposed to be calculated according to penalties meted out or jail terms served, but the victims' group said the amounts on offer were far inferior to the package put together for victims of the 2-28 Incident.
Former DPP lawmaker Hsieh Tsung-ming (謝聰敏), who originally proposed the compensation legislation, lashed out at the Executive Yuan.
"All Cabinet members should be re-educated to improve their understanding of the law, since it mandates compensation according to the model set for victims of the 2-28 Incident."
The 2-28 Incident refers to a series of islandwide massacres conducted by newly arrived KMT soldiers from the mainland, which began around Feb. 28, 1947 and killed an estimated 20,000 people.
Known as the "Martial Law-Enacted Period Political Events Handling Association" (戒嚴時期政治事件處理協會), the protest's organizers pointed out that the government was initially willing to give each White Terror victim only half of the compensation that 2-28 Incident victims were awarded. A 2-28 Incident victim jailed for eight years and three months qualifies to receive NT$5 million in compensation, while a White Terror victim needs to have served a jail term of ten years to get the same amount, they said.
"Only in August did the government give some ground and raise the compensation amount to around 70 percent of that for a 2-28 Incident victim," they said, adding that this was still not enough.
Kuo Hui-ling (郭慧玲), secretary general of the association, said she would continue the struggle for parity. "The association will go on with its campaign to help the White Terror victims get what they deserve.
"Our future efforts will be focused on the two main agencies responsible for this issue -- the Ministry of National Defense and the foundation established by the government," Kuo said.
According to an investigative report produced by the Historical Research Commission of Taiwan Province (
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats