Memorial events will be held around the country today to mark the 66th anniversary of the 228 Massacre, an anti-government uprising that was brutally suppressed.
This year, the government-launched Memorial Foundation of 228 will hold its annual memorial ceremony in Yilan County for the first time, foundation chief executive Liao Chi-pin (廖繼斌) said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will attend the event and present a “reputation-restoring certificate” to officially clear the name of a local newspaper that was forced to close down during the incident, Liao said.
Another of the certificates will be given to the family of 228 victim Chiang Shih-chin (蔣時欽), a native of Yilan and son of Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), an important figure in Taiwan’s resistance against Japanese colonial rule, Liao said.
The foundation will also stage a memorial concert and play that day, as well as a human rights film festival that will run through April 28, at the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei, to commemorate the tragic event, Liao added.
“We hope to use the museum to further promote human rights education,” said Liao, who is the director of the museum.
Tens of thousands of Taiwanese, many of them among the intellectual elite, are estimated to have been killed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces in the brutal crackdown that began on Feb. 27, 1947, 16 months after Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan ended. The incident led to nearly four decades of martial law in Taiwan.
The Taiwan 228 Care Association has organized a procession today that will pass a teahouse that was the original scene of the incident.
A concert will also be held this evening at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to mark the anniversary, while other memorial events will be held around the nation.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS