Members of the Transitional Justice Commission and the National Development Council’s National Archives Administration yesterday retrieved historical records held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on its involvement in the 228 Incident.
Under the supervision of a team of lawyers, the group of 10 reviewed documents in the KMT’s archives room on the fourth floor of the party’s headquarters in Taipei and took 28 files.
The team last week had notified the KMT about the visit and the two sides agreed on it taking place yesterday morning, the commission said.
Photo courtesy of the Transitional Justice Commission
Upon arrival, they were required to register with the building’s security and present their national identification cards, as well as sign in to enter the archives’ reading room, it said.
KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) and KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Cheng Mei-hua (程美華) were present on behalf of the KMT.
The KMT also had its lawyers present throughout the process to “ensure the party’s rights and protect it from harm.”
Chiu told the team he was worried that some information about the party’s history had been fabricated by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, saying that some of the records it had made public differed from what the party had on file, the commission said.
The party was worried its records would be “altered again,” it cited Chiu as saying.
The KMT’s lawyers filmed as the team’s members handled documents and photographed each page they read, it added.
The KMT also required that the media be invited to “appeal to public opinion,” but it decided which outlets to invite, the commission said.
The records taken were all public records, including media reports on the Incident and related internal reports and statements the party made at the time, KMT archives deputy director Wu Min (吳敏) said.
It was “strange” that the commission wanted to take those documents, she said.
The commission said that at a meeting on May 1 it had identified 33 files related to the KMT’s mobilization of troops for a crackdown during the Incident, adding that they should be made public in the interests of transitional justice.
The 33 documents did not include any confidential information, Cheng said, adding that five were in the process of being digitally archived by National Chengchi University and would be retrieved from the university and provided to the commission.
The KMT last month refused to comply with disciplinary measures suggested by the commission and requested that it re-evaluate the documents it wanted to publicize, the commission said.
On July 24, the party appealed to the Taipei High Administrative Court to block the commission’s reclassification of the documents as national property, which was overturned, it added.
While the KMT on Aug. 1 issued a statement saying that it would temporarily halt public access to its archives from Aug. 5, it was still required to conform with requests for access by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, the Transitional Justice Commission and the National Archives Administration, the commission said.
The commission said that it on Aug. 6 notified the party that it would need access to the files, with the party on Aug. 8 saying that it was willing to hand them to the National Archives Administration, but would not pay for delivery or provide personnel to organize them.
It said that it would make the first 28 files available to the public after they are catalogued.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)