The Transitional Justice Commission has gained access to the National Security Bureau’s secret files on 21 cases from the White Terror era, including files on independence advocates Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) and Chen Wen-chen (陳文成).
Commission Acting Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) said at an international conference on transitional justice in Taipei yesterday that the commission has reviewed the files and would commence interviews with people linked to the incidents.
More than 2,000 documents have been reviewed and new historical facts are being uncovered, she said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
On Feb. 28, 1980, Lin was being tried for treason at a military tribunal, when his mother and two seven-year-old twin daughters were stabbed to death at their home.
Chen’s body was found on the campus of National Taiwan University on July 3, 1981, a day after the now-defunct Taiwan Garrison Command claimed to have released him from custody.
No further details would be disclosed for now to avoid compromising the investigations, she said.
Asked about the pace of the commission’s work, Yang said it is following up on multiple leads, but that officials must proceed carefully so that the commission’s findings would be reliable and able to survive legal challenges.
The commission is holding discussions with academics and experts as it prepares long-term plans that it intends to present to the government in May next year, as it does not expect to complete its mission in the allotted two years, she said.
South Korea in 1996 passed a law to investigate government atrocities in the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and its Ministry of National Defense has only recently organized an investigative body, she said, before calling on the public to be patient about transitional justice.
228 Memorial Foundation chairman Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said that the foundation is drafting a report on Taiwan’s transitional justice project and would submit it for the commission’s consideration later this year.
An English-language translation of the report is expected to be published some time next year, Hsueh added.
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