In the days of the White Terror it was common for suspected dissidents to be seized by armed men in broad daylight or dragged from their beds in the middle of the night.
Others simply disappeared, never to be heard from again. Under the heavy surveillance of the Taiwan Garrison Command, the public lived in fear.
After decades of hard work to achieve the democracy and freedom Taiwan enjoys today, the recent incident concerning Democratic Progressive Party Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) is cause for alarm.
Following reports last week that Wang allegedly instigated an incident in which China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) fell over, media outlets reported on Monday that Wang’s life had been threatened by a suspected gangster who demanded that he offer an apology to Zhang.
Cable Channel CTI filmed as Huang Ju-yi (黃如意) sat next to Wang on a sofa and described to him how to present his apology, pounding him on the chest twice.
Wang later told reporters: “A gangster told me, ‘You had better offer an apology to the camera, or I could kill you with one shot.’”
Given past instances in which politicians have staged acts to gain media exposure, it is understandable why some are harboring skepticism over the reports and why they are quick to say Wang staged the incident.
The case is under investigation and until the truth is revealed, the repercussions of the incident can only be speculated on.
If the threat against Wang is real, it should not be viewed as an isolated case. Wang would not be the only victim.
One of the benefits of this democracy is the right to free speech.
People can voice their ideas without having to live in fear of the consequences. Is Taiwan to return to a time when critics are taken away by KGB-like secret agents or gangsters?
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) record of close relations with organized crime has been well documented, and many of these gangs are closely tied to China.
A list issued by Foreign Policy magazine this May ranked Taiwan’s Bamboo Union gang as one of the world’s four most dangerous associations.
The Mainlander gang is known for “drug smuggling, human trafficking and ‘silencing’ journalists as far away as Northern California,” it said.
According to the magazine, the Bamboo Union “emerged as the largest of several Beijing-backed assassination machines in the wake of the communist takeover of mainland China.”
By no means are we suggesting that the Bamboo Union is behind the alleged threat against Wang. However, if authorities fail to take Wang’s statement seriously but to treat it as a petty crime, it is difficult to dismiss the possibility that a policewoman at last Saturday’s anti-government rally was on to something when she told rally-goers that her real boss was “the People’s Republic of China.”
Well, sort of. Tomorrow is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed by forty-nine nations on September 8, 1951. The Republic of China wasn’t one of them. Article 2(b) of the Treaty reads: “Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.” So, tomorrow would be the Diamond Jubilee of Formosa’s freedom from Japanese sovereignty. As my good friend and former Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) voiced in these pages last year (“San Francisco treaty should be taught: adviser”, Sept. 7, 2025), the Japan peace treaty should be taught in all Taiwan schools to
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) was under constant fire last month over the city government’s questionable public works projects and child protection issues, and last week he sparked another controversy involving his son. Chiang on Monday last week confirmed that his eldest son, who was recently admitted to Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo Senior High School, would take a leave of absence to participate in a year-long exchange program in the US. The exchange program Chiang’s son was selected for is funded by the Taipei City Government, and is limited to 25 spots for eligible junior-high and high-school students. Chiang was accused
The first week of the new semester came to a close yesterday, so there is hardly a more suitable time to discuss what is perhaps the most pressing issue facing elementary and secondary education in Taiwan — the shortage of teachers. About 90 percent of teachers have been required to take on extra teaching hours, while about 40 percent regularly experience “extreme fatigue,” a National Substitute Teachers Union survey released on Tuesday said. Some teachers reported being required to teach as many as 35 classes a week across multiple schools. For years, schools have struggled to fill substitute teacher vacancies shortly before
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) has had a tough week on the campaign trail in support of her party’s candidates for November’s local elections. Trouble has been brewing in Changhua County for the past few months over the KMT’s nomination of Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) for Changhua County commissioner. Incumbent Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) of the KMT is not eligible for re-election, as she has already served two terms, but she has conspicuously declined to attend campaign events with Wei. On Friday, Wang posted a 2,000-character explanation of the situation on Facebook, writing that Cheng had sought her
RSS