President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she has instructed the National Security Bureau (NSB) to declassify files requested by the Transitional Justice Commission within one month, with the exception of the few that cannot be published due to legal restrictions.
Tsai made the remark in a speech at a ceremony in Taipei commemorating the 228 Incident, a crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against civilian demonstrators following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947.
Regarding the files the commission has requested — such as those relating to the deaths of political activist Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) family members and Carnegie Mellon University assistant professor of statistics Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) — the bureau must “maximize transparency and minimize restrictions” for public use, she said.
Photo: CNA
The government’s efforts to promote human rights education would continue, Tsai said, adding that the Control Yuan’s soon-to-be-established national human rights commission should endeavor to ensure that the concept of human rights takes root in Taiwan.
The bureau later said that it is in the process of removing about 500 pages of files that include intelligence sources, agent names and intelligence shared by foreign governments, which comprise only 0.0038 percent of all documents and would be stored separately.
The remaining files that are not classified would be transferred to the National Archives Administration by the end of next month, it added.
Photo: CNA
In addition to Tsai, politicians including Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) joined survivors of the 228 Massacre and their families at the ceremony at 228 Peace Memorial Park (228和平紀念公園).
Tsai laid a wreath at the monument to the victims and awarded certificates that “restored the reputation” of the victims and their families, overturning the designations given to them at the time as “rioters,” “rebels” or “communist sympathizers.”
“We believe that by remembering history and reflecting on the past, we can make our society more united, more democratic and more consolidated, and move Taiwan forward,” Tsai said.
Due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, this year’s commemoration was scaled down, as many victims and their descendants live abroad — in places such as Japan and South Korea, which are facing outbreaks of the coronavirus — and were unable to attend.
An Executive Yuan 228 Incident report issued in 1992 said that 18,000 to 28,000 people, many of them members of Taiwan’s intellectual elite, were killed during the subsequent government crackdown, which lasted until May 1947.
The 228 Incident marked the beginning of the White Terror era, during which political dissidents were suppressed, imprisoned or executed, with the nation remaining under martial law until 1987.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique