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Chiang Kai-shek's grandson furious over 228 report

John Chiang, a KMT legislator and the grandson of Chiang Kai-shek, demands an apology from the authors of a new report on the 228 Incident, saying that it seeks to achieve political goals under the guise of scholarship. PHOTO: CNA

A grandson of the dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) yesterday angrily rejected a new official report that said Chiang was the mastermind of the 228 Incident in 1947.

"The entire report lacks direct evidence," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a son of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).

He demanded that the head of the 228 Incident Memorial Foundation, Chen Chin-huang (陳錦煌), and the report's chief author, Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), offer an apology within three days or else be sued for NT$5 billion (US$154 million) in compensation, a sum matching the amount sought by a pro-independence think tank from the KMT.

In response, the foundation's executive director Yang Cheng-long (楊振隆) yesterday said that while the foundation respected Chiang's decision to file suit, it was "impossible" for it to apologize.

Citing declassified official documents, the report released by the government-funded foundation indicates that the KMT should be held responsible for the 228 Incident because the party's leaders at the time of the massacre -- then president Chiang Kai-shek and Taiwan executive administrator Chen Yi (陳儀) -- were its masterminds.

The 590-page report contends that the military crackdown against the uprising was a criminal act committed by the KMT and that the government has the right to bring the former ruling party to justice, even though the statute of limitations would have expired in 1967.

Some tens of thousands of people were murdered as a direct result of the 228 Incident.

KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday declined to comment on the report.

He also made no comment on reports that the Northern Taiwan Society is planning to sue the KMT for NT$5 billion in either a civil or criminal suit over the 228 Incident.

Ma said he would ask KMT headquarters to respond after he reads the book.

Meanwhile, the Central News Agency (CNA) said it respected the analysis of the 228 Incident as outlined in the report and was willing to face the public's judgement on the role the agency played at the time.

CNA was once a KMT-owned agency. It became a corporate entity in 1996 and has since dedicated itself to providing a variety of news services, the agency said in a statement.

The CNA statement was made in response to allegations in the report that "secret telegrams" filed by CNA's Taipei office to the KMT's central government in Nanjing -- declassified in 1992 -- suggested that reinforcements be brought to Taiwan.

The report blamed Yeh Ming-shiun (葉明勳), then director of CNA's Taipei office, for filing news reports that reflected Chen's standpoint and thus failing to provide the KMT with accurate information.

Yeh, now 92 and the head of Shih Hsin University, said that the so-called "secret telegrams" were merely news reports filed as reference material for KMT decision-makers.

Yeh said he had not yet read the report, but would bear no grudge against claims the report made about CNA's role in the incident.

Insisting he had always treated people sincerely and honestly, Yeh said he "has experienced too many big waves in his life" and therefore could be at peace with himself over such "a small thing."

also see story:
Editorial: 228 report provides food for thought

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