A Taiwan 228 Care Association executive yesterday said that the group would not allow Taipei mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to attend its commemoration events, as he claims to be a descendant of the Chiang family and has apparently endorsed the KMT’s past authoritarian regime.
“Results of the nine-in-one elections have seen Chiang Wang-an winning the Taipei mayoral election. During campaigning, he stressed his bloodline and espoused himself as heir to the Chiang political dynasty,” the association said in a statement.
Chiang is to be sworn in as mayor on Sunday.
Photo: CNA
“Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was the man responsible for the 228 Massacre in Taiwan in 1947. [His son and former president] Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) led the execution of White Terror,” the association said.
“Countless Taiwanese were killed, imprisoned and tortured under the authoritarian regimes of the father-and-son Chiang dictators,” it added.
The victims of repression and their families have suffered, and the pain of the families has not ended, because the truth of what happened to their loved ones has not been revealed, while many who committed the atrocities remain unpunished, it said.
“We must have the determination to turn away Chiang Wang-an from any commemoration events for the 228 Incident, because he continues to claim his Chiang family bloodline,” association director Wang Wen-hung (王文宏) said.
“We also insist on refusing those who have supported mass murderer Chiang Kai-shek and his family, as well as existing political forces that still do not want to recognize what has happened and support the Chiang family’s political rule,” he said.
Such forces have opposed the dismantling of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, with its continued existence amounting to trampling upon the dignity of Taiwanese, Wang said.
Wang said Nobel Peace Prize laureate South African Bishop Desmond Tutu in 1984 said there is “no future without forgiveness” and “true reconciliation cannot be achieved by denying the past.”
“In Taiwan, if we do not have the courage to face the pain and suffering of the past, then our nation will always be subject to intimidation of violence from authoritarian political forces,” Wang said.
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