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DPP helped to end martial law tyranny, Chen says

"The Taiwanese people are willing to work with the 493 million people of the 27 countries of the European Union to guide China to become a more democratic and free country."

President Chen Shui-bian

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) helped facilitate the end of tyranny in Taiwan.

"The remote cause of the lifting of martial law was the social forces that came after the `Kaohsiung Incident,' while the immediate cause was the birth of the DPP," Chen said. "The trend of the times forced dictators to bow to the universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights, peace and justice."

The December 1979 "Kaohsiung Incident" occurred when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authorities broke up an anti-government parade organized by Formosa magazine. Ten days after the DPP was founded on Sept. 28, 1986, then president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) announced that he would lift martial law and allow the formation of opposition parties.

Chen made the remarks yesterday in a video message broadcast at a party in Strasbourg, France. The party was organized by Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the lifting of martial law in Taiwan.

What followed the end of martial law was a series of challenges experienced by most emerging democracies, Chen said. Taiwan must face the problems caused by transitional justice, partisan politics, the choice of a constitutional system and, most importantly, disagreements over national identity and China's increasing threat and diplomatic suppression, he added.

"Democratic problems can only be resolved by democratic means," he said. "It has never been our intention to backpedal on the road to democracy."

The fundamental problem of cross-strait relations is democracy, Chen said. If China cannot become a democratic country and insists on one-party rule, the threat posed by its military buildup and aggression will only increase, he said.

"The Taiwanese people are willing to work with the 493 million people of the 27 countries of the European Union to guide China to become a more democratic and free country," he said. "It is the only way to introduce to mankind a more democratic and peaceful world."

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday dismissed KMT plans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of lifting martial law as a scheme to secure political points.

Lu is on a 12-day journey to three of the nation's allies in Central America and the Caribbean.

A political prisoner during the Martial Law era, Lu said the freedom people enjoy today was fought for by those who made a lot of sacrifice and the public must cherish hard-earned civil liberties.

Lu was sentenced to a 12-year term by the then KMT administration on charges of sedition for a speech on human rights she made in 1979 in Kaohsiung. She served nearly five-and-a-half years in jail.

In related news, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday urged KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to apologize to the public on behalf of his party for its past authoritarian reign during the 38-year martial law period.

He made his remarks during a press conference unveiling a photo exhibition dating from the martial law period at DPP headquarters.

Yu was joined by several senior party officials at the unveiling ceremony, at which an iron cell was displayed to mark the occasion.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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