Investigations into the 228 Massacre and White Terror cases should be relaunched because recent controversial comments about the massacre showed that some people are still trying to find excuses for the merciless killings and infringement of human rights, advocates said yesterday.
Independence groups yesterday lambasted Shih Hsin University professor Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波), who said that the killing of 20,000 people by Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) Nationalist Army in the 228 Massacre was “a small case” compared with the 400,000 killed during Chiang’s campaigns against the Chinese Communist Party in China.
“Making comparisons by numbers of death toll is a violation of the universal value that every life matters. If Wang is right, does it mean that what happened recently in Ukraine, where hundreds of people died in protests, was an even smaller case?” Wu Ching-chin (吳景欽), an associate professor of law at Aletheia University, told a press conference.
While victims and their families in the tragedy were compensated by the government decades later, Wu said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration has refused to acknowledge its full responsibility in the massacre, which was why Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) would describe the brutal crackdown an “unintentional mistake.”
Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), a member of the Taiwan Forever Association, said comments that denied the existence of the Holocaust or helped conceal the massacre would be a violation of law in 11 European countries, including Germany and Austria.
Wang could sent to jail by saying what he said, if there were similar laws in Taiwan, Huang added.
As Wang also serves on the Ministry of Education’s history curriculum adjustment task force, which is trying to “de-Taiwanize” high-school textbooks, Northern Taiwan Society secretary-general Steve Wang (王思為) said pro-Taiwan groups had three recommendations.
“We call for abolishing the curriculum adjustment, and future adjustments would have to be screened and monitored by the Legislative Yuan,” Steve Wang said.
“Lastly, investigations into the 228 Massacre and other White Terror cases should be relaunched and those responsible identified,” he added.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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