When Milo Thornberry and Judith Thomas arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 30, 1965, the unassuming couple had no idea that they would be caught up in a series of events that read like a plot for a Len Deighton novel.
Initially posted to Taiwan by the United Methodist Church to take up an appointment as chaplain at Taipei's Soochow University, Thornberry later went to the Presbyterian Church of Formosa and was appointed associate professor of church history at Taiwan Theological College.
In preparation for their trip the pair spent a year reading all the English-language literature they could find about the history and people of Taiwan.
But within a year of their arrival the couple was introduced to one-time political prisoner Peng Ming-min (
Peng was arrested in late 1964 while preparing the Declaration of Formosa (台灣自救宣言) -- a document in which he called for a new constitution and independence for Taiwan. Charged with sedition, he was sentenced to eight years
imprisonment.
"I was well known and I don't think they really knew what to do with me," Peng, now adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) admitted. "Eight years was a light sentence. Looking back at it today I was pretty fortunate. I should have been shot."
Pardoned after 14 months, Peng was placed under house arrest by the Taiwan Garrison Command. By the time the Thornberrys were first introduced to him Peng had mastered the art of slipping in and out of his house after midnight without alerting his jailers.
"We'd been asked to contact Professor Peng by a missionary friend who had returned to the US and had lost contact with him. He told us about his calling for a national debate, his imprisonment and his house arrest," Thomas said.
According to Thomas "something clicked" between them and they instantly became good friends. The evening took an alarming turn, however, when the couple discovered that befriending Peng meant making enemies of his jailers.
"The evening was our first experience with the Garrison Command. We got into a car and there was a jeep on our tail," explained Thornberry. "We went to Ximending and sat in a coffee shop for hours before going home. I don't like to speculate as to the purpose of the jeep, but I think it was just harassment."
By the fall of 1968 the couple had built up a strong relationship with other members of Taiwan's underground movement. This regular exposure to a side of Taiwan few foreigners were aware of gave the couple the incentive they needed.
During the day the pair assumed the personas of a typical mild-
mannered expat US couple. In their off time, though, the pair continued clandestinely to meet with Peng and other Free Formosa activists such as Hsieh Tsung-min (
With the help of a group of people known as "Institutional Guerrillas," who were US government employees disenchanted with US policy, the couple was able to obtain a mimeograph from a US military part-exchange store. Instead of simply meeting with dissidents, the Thornberrys were soon able to print and circulate anonymously penned papers about political repression in Taiwan to scholastic and journalistic circles within the US.
RSS