Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday paid tribute to murdered professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) to commemorate the 31st anniversary of his passing.
The two senior DPP officials posted tributes to Chen on their Facebook pages and highlighted the significance of Chen’s death during the White Terror era to the nation’s democratic development.
An assistant statistics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a supporter of the Taiwanese democracy movement, Chen returned to Taiwan in July 1981 to visit his family and was found dead on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU) on the morning of July 3 after being interrogated by the Taiwan Garrison Command the previous day.
Some suspected Chen was tortured to death by the Taiwan Garrison Command. The garrison command denied the allegation and said Chen could have committed suicide or accidentally fallen off a balcony.
“The truth has not been discovered and the murderers have not yet been identified after 31 years,” Su said.
“As we are breathing the fresh air of freedom and democracy 25 years after the end of the Martial Law era, the corruption and abuse of power remain under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] administration,” he said.
Tsai chose to remember Chen in a more indirect way, saying that “many scars have not healed yet.”
The process of the Taiwanese people’s fight for freedom and democracy is like one’s wait for dawn after a long dark night, she said.
“The development of freedom and democracy is an irreversible process, as well as a people’s life choice. Hopefully, those in power will keep people’s tears and scars in mind and always remember people’s thirst for freedom and democracy,” Tsai wrote.
On Monday night, hundreds of people and students gathered at the location where Chen’s body was found for a memorial ceremony. They paid tribute to Chen and protested against the NTU’s refusal to establish a memorial monument for the professor.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS