A special exhibition about a fierce crackdown on a peaceful campaign for democracy during the Japanese colonial period under the Peace Order and Police Act (POPA, 治安警察法) was launched yesterday in a former Japanese-era police station in Taipei.
Commonly known as the “POPA Incident” (治警事件), the crackdown began on Dec. 16, 1923, when the then-Japanese governor-general of Taiwan ordered the arrests of Taiwanese civil rights activists involved in a campaign for the creation of an elected representative body.
As many as 99 leaders of the movement — including Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), Tsai Pei-huo (蔡培火) and Wang Min-chuan (王敏川) — were arrested, interrogated, detained or jailed during the crackdown.
“Although the POPA Incident is a very important event, many people do not know about it, partially because of a lack of historical documents,” Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Liu Wei-gong (劉維公) said at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. “With pictures and documents donated by private collectors, we are now able to get a more in-depth view of the incident.”
Chiang Wei-shui Cultural Foundation chairman Yen Wen-hsi (顏文熙) said the crackdown happened after Taiwanese activists held demonstrations in Tokyo, not only petitioning for political representation, but also protesting the heavy-handed rule of the governor-general in Taiwan.
“The activists even went as far as directly petitioning to former Japanese emperor Hirohito when he traveled to Taiwan as crown prince,” Yen said.
While the activists were found not guilty at a first court appearance, Chiang and Tsai were sentenced to four months in prison by the court of appeals.
Newspapers were asked not to report on the crackdown by the police, while public telecommunications services with the outside world were also temporarily cut.
Liberty Times Group chairman Wu A-ming (吳阿明), who attended the ceremony, said: “What is right and what is wrong can only be decided by future generations after a news event becomes history.”
“When [the activists] were arrested by the Japanese police, Taiwanese may have thought the activists worked for the good of Taiwan, but people who worked for the government at the time may have considered them traitors,” Wu added.
The exhibition is being held at the former Taipei North Police Station at 87 Ningxia Rd, Datong District, Taipei City, and will run until Nov. 5.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS