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
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS