Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), who died early yesterday morning due to multiple organ failure, was a driving force behind the pro-Taiwan Independence movement, making such efforts his life’s greatest goal.
Born in 1935 from a family heavily involved in politics in Chiayi County, Chai graduated from National Taiwan University and went on to receive his PhD from the University of Southern California. He later worked as a political science professor at the City University of New York.
His pro-Taiwan Independence stance caused him to be blacklisted by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, resulting in Chai being unable to return to Taiwan for more than 20 years.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
During his time in the US, Chai worked to spread the idea of Taiwanese independence, becoming the first chairman of the Taiwanese Independence League and the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), which he co-founded.
Apart from advocating that Taiwan retain the same allotment of immigrants to the US — 20,000 people — as other countries, Chai drew the US Congress’ attention to the state of democracy and human rights in Taiwan and managed to persuade US legislators to support weapons sales to Taiwan.
It could be said that Chai was a major influence behind US legislators’ support of Taiwan.
Since his return to Taiwan in 1990, Chai devoted himself to promoting the use of referendums in the legislative decision process on public issues and supported public decisionmaking on issues by which they would be affected.
Chai also founded Taiwan’s first local television channel in an effort to break the totalitarian control of the then-KMT government over the media, making Formosa TV a symbol the emergence of free speech and relaxing regulations on TV channels.
Although he drew criticism for founding a TV channel while serving as a member of the DPP’s Central Standing Committee — something the DPP had often criticized the KMT for as a way of censoring free speech — most felt that it did not negate his positve actions.
Chai was often seen at pro-localization rallies and activities and was most fervent in his efforts to strengthen Taiwanese identity and attempts to nurture the growth of pro-local individuals.
A solid pro-Taiwan Independence member within the party, Chai had been adamantly opposed to Beijing for its unyielding stance on the use of force to resolve the cross-strait issues. His passing before seeing his efforts come to fruition has greatly saddened many who had fought alongside him in Taiwan’s democracy movement.
Translated by staff writer Jake Chung
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS