President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that the government would take the lead in investigating the 228 Incident and find those accountable for the tragic chapter in the nation’s history.
The government will investigate the Incident, present the truth and pursue those who are accountable to remedy the current status of “only victims, but no perpetrators,” the president said.
“We will not forget [the mission], nor will we circumvent it,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Tsai said she wants to let society reflect more deeply on the mistakes of the Incident, learn from it and move toward reconciliation to create a “democratic, just and united nation.”
The 228 Incident was triggered by a clash between government officials and an illegal cigarette vendor on Feb. 27, 1947. The event turned into an anti-government uprising and was violently put down by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted for several weeks into early May that year, according to an investigation commissioned by the Executive Yuan in 1992.
Photo: CNA
Tsai made the remarks while receiving an overseas group consisting of family members of some of the victims, who were accompanied by Overseas Community Affairs Council Deputy Minister Tien Chiu-chin (田秋蓳), in a closed-door meeting.
“I will instruct related government agencies to continue to sort the files from the authoritarian era, so that the truth that has been kept in the dark for 70 years will come to light,” the president said.
In her address to the group, Tsai was quoted in a news release as saying that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Incident, adding that Taiwan lost almost a whole generation of its elite due to the mistakes committed by the authoritarian rulers of the time.
“Even today, Taiwanese are still suffering from the consequences of the 228 Incident,” she said.
After Taiwan became democratic, people were finally able to openly discuss the Incident, she said.
The government has admitted mistakes, apologized, set up monuments and has probed the truth. It has also rehabilitated the names of victims and compensated their families in a bid to heal the trauma.
However, the president said she knows clearly that for the families of the victims, the government’s work is far from complete.
“We should not forget history, nor our trauma,” she said.
She said that she attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day activity in Taipei on Sunday and acutely felt the courage of Germany in facing its historical mistakes.
She pointed out that the German government, academics and the private sector have continued to probe the historical facts in a bid to more carefully dig out the truth and have continued to prosecute Nazi war criminals.
Germany’s experience is inspirational to Taiwan, she said, adding that the pursuit of historical truth and the preservation of history are long-term social goals.
The government has an obligation to continue to more thoroughly probe the truth of the Incident in an open and transparent manner so that the accountability of those responsible can be more clear and detailed, she said.
Among the files collected by the Archive Bureau, only a few have yet to be declassified, Tsai said.
She said that as far as she knows, four files belong to the Overseas Community Affairs Council, which is coordinating the process “to declassify them as soon as possible.”
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei