President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday in Chiayi County outlined the advances on transitional justice made by her administration during her address at a memorial ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the 228 Incident.
Tsai said her government has made a series of efforts to implement transitional justice, including admitting wrongdoing, issuing apologies to victims of the Incident, launching investigations and paying compensation.
It has passed or amended five pieces of legislation, formed a special Cabinet-level body to promote transitional justice and published four investigative reports on the Incident and the ensuing White Terror era from 1949 to 1987, when Taiwan was under martial law.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
A foundation established early last year responsible for compensating victims of the Incident and the White Terror era has so far accepted claims from nearly 2,000 applicants, she said.
It has paid more than NT$4 billion (US$126.7 million) in compensation to the families of people who had their property illegally confiscated by the government, she added.
Efforts have also been made to declassify previously sealed national security files to learn more about the Incident and White Terror era, Tsai said.
The Political Archives Act (政治檔案條例) was amended last year to require political files categorized as national security information to be declassified instead of being kept confidential, she said.
The revisions, promulgated by the president on Dec. 27 last year and which took effect yesterday, require the declassification of files after 30 years, removing a designation allowing for indefinite classification of documents pertaining to national security or foreign affairs.
In addition to declassifying thousands of political archives from Aug. 15, 1945, to Nov. 6, 1992, the National Archives Administration yesterday vowed to expedite the review of potentially sensitive documents.
In declassifying documents, “the government is not targeting any specific political party. We are doing so to take responsibility for the previous authoritarian regime’s illegal actions,” Tsai said.
Despite these efforts, Tsai said she understood that the “horrible memories and scars” would not go away for the victims and their families, “but we must find a way to coexist peacefully with the past and build an more open society together.”
“We shall never forget the past nor shall we choose not to commemorate the past because we are too afraid to do so,” she said.
The Incident refers to protesters being shot by security personnel on Feb. 28, 1947, at the Governor-General’s Office in Taipei (currently the Executive Yuan compound). The protesters were demanding the arrest of those responsible for the indiscriminate killing of a bystander in an angry crowd on Feb. 27 outside the Tianma Tea House on Nanjing W Road. The crowd had challenged Tobacco Monopoly Bureau officials after one of them hit Lin Chiang-mai (林江邁), a woman selling cigarettes illegally, in the head with his pistol after she demanded that the officials return cigarettes they had confiscated from her.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted into early May, according to an investigation commissioned by the Cabinet in 1992.
During the ceremony, Tsai exonerated four Incident victims — Wu Tien-shang (吳天賞), Tu Kuan-huang (杜崑煌), Chiang Chen-yu (江振猷) and Ho Keng-tse (何鏗澤) — by awarding “certificates of restored reputation” to their sons and daughters to redress the state’s wrongdoing.
Also at Wednesday’s ceremony, 228 Memorial Foundation chairman Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said his foundation would help the families of potential Incident victims file for government compensation by validating their claims.
The opening of sealed files has provided the proof needed to help families applying for compensation confirm that their relatives were victims of the Incident, Hsueh said, adding that the families of more than 4,000 victims have been helped by the foundation.
“We continue to seek the truth about the Incident, not only for the sake of the victims and their families, but for the future. After making sure who should be responsible for the tragedy, we can all move on to create a future together,” he said.
The foundation also completed translations of English and Japanese versions of The Tragedy of 228: Historical Truth and Transitional Justice in Taiwan, Hsueh said.
The publication of English and Japanese versions of the book would allow non-Mandarin speakers to gain a better understand of the history of Taiwan, he said.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
‘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