Several political victims’ support groups yesterday petitioned Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) over President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) decision to name an assembly hall in the Presidential Office Building after former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Su quoted Formosan Political Prisoners Association honorary director-general Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕) as saying in a closed-door meeting that the association wants Ma’s decision revoked because it deems Chiang to be a perpetrator in the Martial Law era, adding that he should be held accountable for serious human rights violations during the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) period of authoritarian rule.
When it was announced on March 29 that the hall would be named after Chiang, a Presidential Office official said the move was to “give people a better understanding of Chiang’s contributions to the nation.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Before yesterday’s meeting, the groups provided the media with copies of several official documents from the Martial Law era showing Chiang’s signature on papers and reports on the rulings of political victims that were then handed to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) for approval.
Human rights activist Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘城) cited the case of a person called Wang Te-wen (王德文), who was named as a “bandit spy” in one of the papers.
Wang was originally given a 15-year jail sentence, but Chiang Kai-shek wrote next to the ruling: “Why has this person not been executed,” and his fate was changed.
Wang did not have relatives in Taiwan, and his tomb is in Taipei’s Liuzhangli Public Cemetery (六張犁), which has been made into a memorial park.
A joint statement by the groups said that Chiang Ching-kuo played a major role in the authoritarian government’s intelligence department and after 1950 he was the head of the intelligence system.
“The National Security Bureau had, at least until the end of the 1960s when Chiang [Ching-kuo] was the minister of national defense, still been handing investigation reports related to political cases to Chiang [Kai-shek] for his approval,” it said.
The groups said that Ma should revoke the naming, and if not, president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should do it after she takes office on Friday next week.
The groups also criticized Premier Simon Chang (張善政), who on Wednesday said: “How much could transitional justice increase Taiwan’s GDP?”
The groups said that the spirit of redressing past human rights violations and facing history head-on is never profit-oriented.
“It is the democratic DNA, not GDP, that transitional justice is after,” groups said.
Additional Reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS