When Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) co-authored a 1964 manifesto advocating establishment of a new government and a free and democratic nation for the Taiwanese, the concept was not accepted by the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
Peng has proved to be a visionary, however. Many of the ideas he wrote about 41 years ago in the manifesto, entitled, A Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation have now either been achieved or have become the mainstream opinion of the majority of the Taiwanese people.
Peng, who currently serves as a senior advisor to the president, has played a pivotal role in the nation's democracy movement and has been regarded as the "godfather of Taiwan's independence movement."
The declaration, considered by many as one most important documents in Taiwan's history, has been lauded by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as the "beacon leading Taiwan in its path toward democracy."
As a director of the political science department at National Taiwan University during the martial law days, Peng drafted the declaration with two of his students -- Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏) and Wei Ting-chao (魏廷朝) -- and prepared to distribute ten thousands copies.
But the document never got the chance to see the light of day. As soon as printing was completed, Peng and his students were arrested on sedition charges.
"The fact that Peng and his students drafted a discourse on the idea of Taiwan's independence, a risky move at the time, has guaranteed them a place in history," said Chen I-shen (
It wasn't until years later that people had a chance to read the declaration when it was included in Peng's memoir, A Taste of Freedom, published in English in 1972.
The manifesto outlined an analysis of Taiwan's political situation, its prospects for the future and its status in the international community.
It highlighted eight main issues, including: the fact that China and Taiwan are separate must be legally recognized; it is impossible to retake the mainland; attempts to retake the mainland only serve as an excuse to perpetuate the KMT regime; and the KMT represents neither China nor Taiwan.
The declaration also fleshed out three basic objectives: to establish a new state with a new government, create a new constitution, and join the UN as a new member state.
"Upon the writing of the final draft after so many months of discussion and indirect debate, we were exhilarated and filled with a sense of success. But we were conscious that we were walking a dangerous path. Life seemed to have taken on a new meaning," Peng recalled in his memoirs.
"The obstacles in our path were dwarfed by the magnitude of the effect we hoped this manifesto might have upon the lives of ten million Formosans and upon the refugees from the mainland living among us," said Peng in the memoir. "If our manifesto generated debate in every community, it would prepare the way for popular support for an overt attempt to break up the party dictatorship and destroy the stranglehold of the secret police system."
Born into a doctor's family during the Japanese colonial era, Peng was entranced by French literature in his youth.
He spent the years of World War II studying in Japan and was seriously wounded during a US bombing raid just one day before he could reach the relative safety of his brother's home near Nagasaki.
Peng returned to Taiwan and completed his education at National Taiwan University. He turned from the pleasures of French culture to a legal aspects of air navigation.
According to George H. Kerr, who wrote the foreword for Peng's memoir, "[Peng] soon made himself a local authority [in air navigation], attracting the attention of his faculty and winning the patronage of the distinguished scholar Dr. Hu Shih (
"[Peng] was sent abroad to study, first to Montreal and then to Paris. Here he distinguished himself as a pioneer in the new field of law, and his technical publications attracted considerable international attention," Kerr wrote.
Before drafting the declaration, Peng had been appointed as legal adviser to the KMT at the UN. Political realities at the UN strengthened Peng in his conviction that there is one China and one Taiwan.
In November 1965, Peng was convicted of sedition and sentenced to eight years in prison, but his sentence was later commuted to house arrest, where he was placed under 24-hour surveillance. In 1970, he escaped from Taipei and took political asylum in Sweden.
Out of consideration for the safety of those who helped him escape, Peng has never openly discussed the episode.
Peng later moved his place of exile to the US until 1992, when he returned to Taiwan following the lifting of martial law.
Paired with Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) as his running mate, Peng ran for president under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) banner in 1996 during the nation's first direct presidential election. The Peng-Hsieh ticket then garnered about 21.1 percent of the vote.
In the decades after the drafting of his declaration, Peng remains devoted to his beliefs and continues to speak out for the right to self-determination of the Taiwanese people.
‘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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS