President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Retrocession Day yesterday betrayed a hidden China-centric and pro-unification agenda, academics said at a forum in Taipei.
The forum, hosted by the Taiwan Association of University Professors, was aimed at challenging the official “liberation” narrative of Taiwan’s post-World War II history.
“‘Liberation’ is the shackling of the Taiwanese by a military junta led by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石); a shackling that is still in evidence 70 years later,” association secretary-general Hsu Wen-tang (許文堂) said. “It is a liberation that never was.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“The political subtext of the liberation anniversary is unification,” Taiwan Thinktank deputy executive director Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have “already arrived at a consensus” over a roadmap toward political unification in negotiations carried out “in the past one to two years,” Lai said, adding that then-Mainland Affairs Council minister Wang Yu-chi’s (王郁琦) meeting with Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) last year was designed to facilitate Ma’s hoped-for meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the APEC summit, in Beijing.
This process would have led to the “official declaration of a KMT-CCP truce” on the 70th anniversary of Taiwan’s liberation this year, which would have paved the way for political unification with China had the Sunflower movement in March and April last year not “reversed the pro-China trend,” Lai said.
“If not for the Mar. 18 [protests], what events would have taken place between then and now?” Lai asked.
Another panelist, Black Island National Youth Front activist Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), said she respects the views of KMT military veterans, but their views should not take precedence over that of other Taiwanese ethnic groups, including “Aborigines, recent immigrants and ethnic Taiwanese who were living in Taiwan prior to the KMT’s flight from China.”
“Taiwanese should question the Ma administration’s lavish promotion of ‘Taiwan’s liberation’ as a historical narrative, and its celebration of that perspective as the official position of the government,” she said.
“This event highlights how the KMT-run education system persistently and chronically excluded other cultural values and perspectives from its historical perspectives, and employed crude militarism in an attempt to impose on Taiwanese the narrative of a ‘Liberation in the War of Resistance,’” Lai Pin-yu said.
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
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