Even if dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) made certain contributions to Taiwan, they should still be held responsible for the murders of political dissidents, Taiwan Art-in Design president Ronald Tsao (曹欽榮) said,
Tsao, whose work studio has been entrusted by the Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park with a project collecting and compiling records related to political persecution during the White Terror period, said that all verdicts concerning dissidents had to be approved by Chiang Kai-shek personally, and that there were cases in which Chiang Kai-shek changed a sentence of life in prison to the death penalty.
Tsao said that during the martial law period, Chiang Kai-shek’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo held many important positions such as director of political warfare and the information director of the Presidential Office and was in charge of commanding the secret service and handling dissident information. He added that, as president, it would be quite easy for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to find out how the two Chiangs prosecuted and murdered dissidents.
Tsao said he is therefore opposed to the Ma government’s plan to change the name of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall back to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and asked if the government is trying to worship a dictator who murdered his own people.
The memorial park’s administration recently unveiled an updated list of White Terror victims, totaling 8,296 names, which is seven times the number disclosed in 1999 by the Bo Yang Human Rights Educational Foundation.
Tsao said the list of political victims during the White Terror came to light because of the creation of the National Archives Administration in 2004. Then president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) ordered a thorough search for files related to the 228 Incident and many documents such as written verdicts from the White Terror were also discovered, he said.
Chang Yi-jung (張旖容) only recently found out — 56 years after her grandfather, political prisoner Huang Wen-kung (黃溫恭) was executed — that he had left behind five letters to his family.
She said: “Nazi perpetrators who murdered Jews are still being put on trial today. It is quite strange that more and more victims are being discovered in Taiwan, but we haven’t seen any perpetrators yet.”
“I don’t think Chiang Kai-shek did this all by himself — who were the others? The government said that there needs to be transitional justice, but they haven’t gone after the perpetrators, so who can we forgive?” she said.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
RSS