Hundreds of people marched in the streets of Taipei yesterday in memory of those who perished in the wake of the 228 Incident 65 years ago.
Representatives from various civic groups and victims’ families joined the parade, which began at Yongle Market, to commemorate victims of the bloody suppression of anti-government uprisings that began on Feb. 27, 1947, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, including many Taiwanese leaders and intellectuals.
Among the crowd was 80-year-old Lee Rong-chang (李榮昌), a wheelchair-bound son of a victim of the 228 Massacre, who insisted on joining the march despite the cold and the rain.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Lee recalled the afternoon on March 10, 1947 — the day his father went missing.
“While my mother was cooking squid rice porridge in the afternoon for family guests, several military police and plainclothes officers showed up,” Lee said.
After the uninvited visitors told his father that his presence was “requested by a superior,” his father was taken away and never returned home.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
“We looked for my father for more than half a year, but still had no clue about his whereabouts,” Lee said, “so we reported him as a missing person.”
Because any individual who made any reference to the massacre was deemed a communist or a pro-independence advocate at the time, Lee said he was afraid to talk about how his father was taken away during the White Terror period.
Lee condemned former premier Hau Pei-tsun’s (郝柏村) comment in an op-ed piece on Tuesday last week, in which he said no more than 1,000 people were killed in the massacre.
Hau was attempting to erase people’s memories of the brutal massacre, Lee said.
At the Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕碼頭), where the march ended, Taiwan 228 Care Association chairman Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) told the crowd that the only way to prevent the brutal oppression from recurring was to keep Chinese influence from entering Taiwan.
“It is ironic that, 65 years ago, the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] accused those who were arrested and killed [in the massacre] of being incited by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], and now it is collaborating with the CCP to coerce Taiwanese,” he said.
Chang said all available research showed that Hau’s estimate of the number of dead was inaccurate, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has not offered a sincere apology over the Incident and that his appearances at the annual memorials were only “ceremonial.”
Other speakers also accused Hau of “distorting history” and warned of growing Chinese influence in Taiwan, with Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) saying the commemoration of the massacre was even more meaningful 65 years later under Ma’s pro-Beijing administration.
Taiwanese should not harbor false expectations about China as their predecessors did toward their “motherland” after the World War II era, Huang said.
Participants concluded the memorial march by releasing water lanterns to pay tribute to the dead.
Commemorative ceremonies were also held in other cities, including New Taipei City (新北市), Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.
Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) urged Ma to offer a clear explanation of the massacre, while Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) called on Ma to “pay attention to the hate speech of KMT members to prevent Taiwan’s society from deeper division.”
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff writer
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from