INTERVIEW
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which was passed on Tuesday, is a move toward a mature democracy and not about exacting revenge, Academia Historica director Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) said in a recent interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times).
The Executive Yuan is required by law to establish an ad hoc committee to implement transitional justice measures set forth under the law, including the retrieval of political archives held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which could significantly add to the understanding of the era.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
According to the law, political parties and affiliated organizations are obligated to hand over archives determined by the committee to be national archives or face a fine of between NT$1.5 million and NT$5 million (US$49,975 and US$166,583). The fine can be repeated if necessary.
Wu said the KMT should respond to the act by drawing on historical records in its possession to show that the party has changed.
The act is an important part of Taiwan’s democratization and liberalization processes, Wu said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party was unable to promote the act when it first came to power in 2000, as it did not have a majority in the legislature.
The KMT showed no interest in promoting transitional justice when they returned to office in 2008, despite claiming to be different from the KMT of the past, he added.
Whether the act can be successfully implemented now will be a test of the maturity of the nation’s democracy, Wu said, adding that a democracy that is defined merely as the election of one out of a few individuals is not a good democracy.
“If this is done well, then no individual or party will be held accountable for past crimes,” Wu said.
Many KMT party members today rely on the support of local constituencies, and there is no need for them to bear the burden of the party’s past crimes, he said, adding that, conversely, the KMT can borrow from the impetus of the transitional justice process and win support by showing commitment to its efforts.
Reports that government divisions made to the central government during the authoritarian period provide important records of the time, Wu said, citing communications between the then-Taiwan Province governor and the central government in China’s Nanjing during the 228 Incident.
The public also has yet to see documents detailing the “blacklisting” of some overseas Taiwanese students by the KMT, he said, adding that such documents would have been kept by the party’s overseas affiliate organizations at the time.
Wu said that many overseas students of the time found themselves unable to enter public universities or the Academia Sinica upon returning to Taiwan, even when their academic records had passed inspection.
Collecting and making public the records of those blacklisted students, which are spread out among various organizations, would provide a more complete historical picture, he said.
“In any nation where public records are hidden away or destroyed, people are going to be distrustful of the government,” Wu said.
“Therefore, it is imperative that whatever organization is tasked with managing government documents has the public’s trust,” Wu said, adding: “Document declassification processes must be transparent and systematic, with progress and access restrictions being clearly explained.”
The process of accessing government records must be simple to reduce public distrust, Wu said.
‘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