National Taiwan University (NTU) students and democracy activists are to commemorate former Carnegie Mellon University assistant professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) during a ceremony today which marks the 32nd anniversary of his mysterious death — a case that remains unsolved to this day.
They are set to gather at Chen Wen-chen Memorial Square on the NTU campus and pay tribute to the supporter of the pro-democracy movement at 6:30pm in a ceremony that has become an annual event.
Chen, a graduate of NTU’s Department of Mathematics, studied in the US before becoming an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s math department.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP
He returned to Taiwan to visit his family on May 20, 1982, his first trip back home since leaving for graduate studies in the US in 1975.
He was detained by the Taiwan Garrison Command — a military security agency during the Martial Law era — for interrogation on July 2, 1981, because of his support for the pro-democracy movement.
The next morning, Chen’s body was discovered next to the library at NTU and it was unclear whether his body had been deliberately placed there to appear as though he had committed suicide or had fallen from the building by accident.
The Taiwan Garrison Command said it released Chen after the interrogation and that it had nothing to do with his death.
Chen’s case, also known as the Chen Wen-chen Incident, was one of several possible murder cases related to democracy activists or their families which have remained unsolved after decades of investigation.
A non-profit, the Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation, was created in memory of the assistant professor.
Another notable case occurred on Feb. 28, 1980 — exactly 33 years after the 228 Massacre of 1947, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops opened fire on civilians, killing thousands — when former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) mother and his twin daughters were murdered.
Although the former KMT regime was strongly suspected of playing a role in the murders, there is no evidence to prove the speculation.
This story has been corrected since it was first published to indicate that Chen Wen-chen returned to Taiwan on May 20, 1981.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we