A noted figure in Taiwan’s democracy movement was yesterday implicated as an informant of the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime during the White Terror era.
Lee Chiu-yuan (李秋遠) — a founding member of the China Democratic Party — informed the government of a plan by democracy advocate Su Tung-chi (蘇東啟), leading to his arrest, Academia Historica said at the book launch of The Su Tung-chi Case: A Collection of Historical Documents (蘇東啟案史料彙編) in Taipei.
Lee served in the National Security Council in 2000, under then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). He died in 2005.
The Su case is representative of the fate of Taiwanese independence advocates, Academia Historica president Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) told the event.
The book, comprising four volumes of primary sources, details how Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) rule relied on secret police informants, he said.
Taiwanese who opposed the regime were targeted, as the government feared that they might take up arms against it, he added.
Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕), a survivor of political persecution, told the event that he was “surprised” when he learned about Lee’s complicity.
In 1961, Su planned to recruit ethnic Taiwanese members of the Marine Corps for an armed uprising against the government. He was motivated by the purge of the editor of and contributors to the Free China Journal, thinking that the incident showed that peaceful reform was not possible, the book shows.
Su told Lee about the plan, and the latter informed the National Security Bureau, which then arrested Su and about 50 other dissidents, citing information from a “highly placed informant,” the book shows.
Previously, Lee informed the bureau of four attempts to organize political parties in opposition to the KMT, with his spy activities including wearing a wire on one occasion, it shows.
Su was in 1962 sentenced to death by a military tribunal, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison amid pressure on Chiang’s regime. Su remained in prison until a general pardon in 1975 after Chiang’s death. Su died in 1992.
His daughter, Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), is a legislator representing a constituency in Yunlin County.
‘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