President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she would press the National Security Bureau and other agencies to declassify major cases from the White Terror era as she presided over a ceremony in Taipei yesterday marking the exoneration of 2,006 political victims.
“We must strive to seek justice and restore historical truths,” she said at the event, which was organized by the Transitional Justice Commission to exonerate people persecuted during the White Terror era under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian rule.
The ceremony was held for people whose names were cleared by the commission on its third and fourth list of exoneration published on Feb. 27 and May 30.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Some of the victims attended the ceremony, while those who had died were represented by family members.
The lists include people who were persecuted in the aftermath of the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), long-time democracy activist Shih Ming-te (施明德) and Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊).
Lei Chen (雷震), an intellectual and early democracy advocate who in 1950 founded the magazine Free China (自由中國), was also exonerated.
Pointing to lawmakers’ passage of the Political Archives Act (政治檔案法) on Thursday, Tsai said that regulations are now in place for the collection, review and declassification of documents on political cases.
“It is important to open these files and ascertain responsibilities for these cases so that we can learn and take lessons from history,” she said.
Regarding public concern over the incident and the death of dissident and Carnegie Mellon University associate professor of mathematics Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) in 1981, Tsai said: “These were sealed as secret files, never to be opened. I will take the lead to press the bureau and related national security agencies to reassess these files and to declassify them as much as possible.”
Chen Wen-chen returned to Taipei on May 20, 1981, for the first time since leaving for graduate studies in the US in 1975 to introduce his baby son to his parents.
However, after being taken away for questioning by Taiwan Garrison Command officers on July 2, his body was found outside a building on the National Taiwan University campus the next day. The authorities said he might have committed suicide, but his family has maintained that he was murdered by the then-KMT regime for his pro-democratic views. His case remains unsolved.
Tsai and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) gave bouquets of flowers to the exonerated people, most of whom are elderly, and those who were representing their family members who were exonerated posthumously.
Chen Chu attended the event as a former political prisoner.
“We were pursuing freedom and democracy, and were not guilty of any crime... Many political prisoners and their families have waited a lifetime to see this day,” she said.
“We were fighting ... so that Taiwan could have a fair and just society... Today I see that many political prisoners and their families are at an advanced age, and they should not bear the burden of being ‘a convicted criminal’ when they depart this world,” Chen Chu said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
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
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
RSS