Taiwan independence pioneer and World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂) died yesterday from complications arising from sinus surgery. He was 79.
Ng was rushed to the National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital in Taipei after suffering heart failure halfway through surgery at the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center in Taipei earlier in the day.
Ng died of heart failure at around 11am, WUFI secretary--general Wang Kan-hou (王康厚) said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Taiwan Nation Alliance convener Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said Ng’s death was totally unexpected.
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] was grief-stricken to learn about Ng’s passing. He has devoted his whole life to Taiwan’s democracy and freedom and his spirit will live with us forever and call on us to fight for the well-being of the next generation. May he rest in peace,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told reporters at a campaign stop before she visited Ng’s family at the hospital.
Ng’s passing is a “great loss for the Taiwan independence movement,” said Lee Yeng-chyh (李永熾), a history professor.
“Ng has never wavered in his support for Taiwan’s independence. We should remember him for his determination, perseverance and his love for Taiwan,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
Tainan-born Ng was known for his decades of dedication to the independence movement. He was also one of the main organizers of the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally, widely seen as a crucial event contributing to former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) re-election, when more than 1 million Taiwanese formed a human chain across the west coast on Feb. 28, 2004.
Born in 1932 during the Japanese colonial era, Ng went to Japan for further study after graduating from NTU in 1958. He began participating in the independence movement the following year when he was working on his master’s degree at then-Tokyo Imperial University.
He founded the Taiwan Youth Society, the forerunner of today’s WUFI Japan office, in 1960 in Tokyo. That act led to him being placed on a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government blacklist, thereby barring him from returning to Taiwan.
Ng, who did not return to Taiwan until 1992, had served as WUFI chairman since 1995 and as a presidential adviser during Chen’s DPP administration.
A self-proclaimed supporter of “swift independence” when he was younger, Ng told the Taipei Times in an interview in August that his eventual goal would be “removing the ROC [Republic of China] political system, which was forced upon Taiwanese by the regime of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) after the end of World War II.”
However, he later adopted a more moderate approach, saying that the removal of the ROC system would take time and could not occur without a healthy combination of domestic political development, global trends and, most of all, the consensus and will of the public.
“The ROC is like a cap on the top of our head. If it’s rainy, we’ll have to wear it for now, but we are waiting for a sunny day to take it off,” he said in the interview. “I am very optimistic. The Taiwan independence movement will succeed someday.”
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
RSS