The scandal over the military police’s alleged violations of civilians’ rights with an illegal detention and search of a private residence took a surprising turn when a man surnamed Hu (胡) said he has a collection of more than 1,000 White Terror-era documents, and asked the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to contact him.
“It was meaningless for the military police to search Wei’s house. There are more of these documents in my hands,” said Hu, who is a consultant for the Taiwanese Web site “Rebirth.com” (再生.com) which specializes in the sale of antiques, valuable cultural items and historical materials.
The military police detained and questioned Wei last month, then went to his home, seizing three documents, which Wei had put up for sale on the Web site.
Photo: CNA
Among Hu’s collection were documents relating to the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s conspiracy case against General Sun Li-jen (孫立人) and persecution of prominent KMT politician Lei Chen (雷震), Hu said.
Besides the files on Sun and Lei from the 1950s, Hu said he has more than 1,000 documents from the White Terror era, mostly once-classified material from the KMT’s military and intelligence apparatus, whose investigations led to the arrest, torture, imprisonment and death of dissidents, political activists and suspected communist spies during the four decades of martial law under the authoritarian rule of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Among his collection were photographs of prisoners in their final hours, with their names, taken just before their execution, which researchers said is valuable historical material and should be put in a protected depository at the National Archives or at Academia Sinica.
“People from Academia Sinica and other institutions have bought materials from me in the past. I am a law-abiding businessman and I will not make problems for the military. If MND officials contact me, I am willing to reveal in public all the material in my collection,” Hu said, adding that he was not sure why the MND and the military police took such an avid interest in tracking down the three documents offered for sale by Wei.
Hu said that he obtained all the documents legally, some from private collectors and others at auctions, paying more than NT$100,000 for some, while others were offered to him.
“We always try to authenticate the materials, as some turn out to be fakes, while some are stolen goods,” Hu said.
MND spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said the seller should get in touch with the defense ministry on his own, because it would not be appropriate for the ministry to contact Hu, as the public might suspect harassment and White Terror-era tactics against a private citizen.
“It is best to hand the materials to judicial agencies or the police for their handling, then they can be examined by experts for their authenticity. The MND would also provide assistance in this work, because we are not certain if these documents have been declassified, and to determine which agencies they had came from, and others might involved personal privacy issues for the affected individuals,” Lo said.
However, political commentator Chung Nien-huang (鍾年晃) urged Hu not to hand the documents over to the ministry or its related agencies, because they would most likely be destroyed, as the KMT and military officials have a vested interest in destroying all evidence of its killing of tens of thousands of Taiwanese during the White Terror era and the 228 Massacre.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique