Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday launched an electronic book chronicling the life and times of democracy pioneer Lei Chen (雷震), who was accused of sedition and sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing a pro-democracy magazine in 1960.
Hsieh said Taiwan had paid a high price for the mistakes made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian regime during its 50-year rule.
"Lei saw clearly that the KMT's campaign to reclaim China was futile and realized that democratization and `Taiwanization' were inseparable," Hsieh said at a forum organized by the Lei Chen Democracy and Human Rights Fund to mark the launching of the e-book, titled Documentary Collection on the Lei Chen Case.
treason
Lei, a founder and publisher of the Free China journal, was arrested on Sept. 4, 1960, on treason charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison at the behest of late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (
Declassified documents show that the Taiwan Garrison Command proposed drastic measures to stop the publication of the journal. Six hours before the verdict was handed down, Chiang issued an order that Lei's sentence should not be less than 10 years, and that no appeal should be allowed.
During his 10 years in jail, Lei wrote a 4-million-word memoir chronicling his life and thoughts on democracy. However, the memoir and most government documents regarding the "Lei Chen incident" have either disappeared or been destroyed.
Chen Yi-shen (
His proposal received harsh criticism from Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
warning
Lei was warned by the Garrison Command after publishing an editorial in the Free China journal criticizing the government for setting traps to catch corrupt officials.
Chinese dissident Ruan Ming (阮銘) said that although Lei and Chiang Ching-kuo were both against communism, Lei insisted that democracy and freedom were the best alternative while Chiang Ching-kuo contended that dictatorship was the answer.
Lei suggested changing the Republic of China's (ROC) title to the "Democratic State of Chinese Taiwan." He proposed that the country could be independent of the People's Republic of China under a "two Chinas" model.
The Chiangs, however, flatly rejected Lei's proposal. The US government severed diplomatic ties with the ROC and withdrew its forces from the country in 1979.
Although Lei did not live to see the democratization of Taiwan, Ruan said Chiang Ching-kuo had put Lei's will into practice and helped to transform the country into a more democratic state.
Lee Shiao-feng (
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires