Several human rights groups yesterday released a joint statement panning former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) over his remarks on Sunday that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) 38-year dictatorship during the Martial Law era was totally justified and that without it, Taiwan would not have become a democracy today.
Hau made the statement defending the KMT’s authoritarian rule during a rally attended by thousands of veteran soldiers at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on Sunday to commemorate the dead dictator’s birthday yesterday.
“Without the Martial Law period, we wouldn’t have democracy today, without the Martial Law period, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the freedom we have today,” Hau told the crowd, adding that many people these days have misinterpreted history and are making “unjust” assessments of Chiang’s rule.
He went on to say that the Martial Law era had been necessary because the KMT had lost the Chinese Civil War against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“There were communist spies everywhere in Taiwan, so we certainly had to take harsh measures to protect Taiwan from the Chinese communists,” he said.
Hau said that without Chiang and his “harsh measures,” Taiwan would have been taken over by the CCP in 1949, and would not be able to enjoy freedom and democracy today.
Several human rights groups — including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation, the Dr Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation, the Deng Liberty Foundation, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the Humanistic Education Foundation and the Taiwan Labor Front — released a joint statement denouncing Hau and his remarks.
In the joint statement, the groups said that during the 38-year Martial Law period from 1949 to 1987, Taiwanese were deprived of such basic rights as the freedoms of expression and assembly.
According to the Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts during the Martial Law era — a semi-official organization in charge of compensating political victims and their families, as many as 7,000 political cases have been approved and granted compensation, including almost 800 death sentences.
“The comments [that Hau made] were absurd — his praising of the Martial Law period is as bad as praising the criminal acts of Nazi Germany,” the statement said.
“We condemn such regressive remarks, and demand that Mr Hau, as well as the KMT, apologize to political victims, their families and the general public for their repeated absurd remarks,” the statement said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS