A political prisoner from the White Terror era yesterday said he would launch a campaign to encourage victims convicted by military tribunals to take legal action to clear their names and demand compensation, after the Control Yuan raised questions about the legality of the Martial Law Era.
Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏), a national policy adviser under the Democratic Progressive Party administration, made the remarks following the release of a Control Yuan report questioning the constitutional legitimacy of the implementation of martial law, which was imposed in 1949 and lasted 38 years.
Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬) and Liu Hsing-shan (劉興善) made the report public at a press conference yesterday, saying the document was based on more than one year of scrutinizing all available documents kept by the government.
Liu said the KMT government proclaimed a series of martial laws three times between December 1948 and November 1949. The last, declared on Nov. 22, 1949, specifically put the entire “Taiwan area” under martial law.
Liu said the legitimacy of the order issued on Nov. 22 was questionable because it was not signed by acting president Li Zongren (李宗仁), who had taken over after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) resigned as president on Jan. 21, 1949.
It was also unconstitutional because the order should have been ratified by the legislature within a month of its decree.
“We did not find any documents showing that the order was signed off by Li and promulgated, as Li had left Chongqing and was then in the US. If it had been promulgated, the Central Daily News [the KMT mouthpiece] would have published the news the next day, but it did not,” Liu said.
Huang said the Control Yuan published the report to shed light on that part of history, adding that it was not for the Control Yuan to decide whether martial law was implemented unconstitutionally.
“Convictions made during the era could be annulled if the imposition of martial law is ruled to have been unconstitutional and illegal,” Huang said.
“We are not sure whether the martial laws were invalid, but we think they might have been flawed, and the answer can only be given by the Constitutional Court,” Liu said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting