A project aimed at declassifying old government records has hit a roadblock after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) refused to allow project coordinators to publish a portion of documents concerning the party.
Academia Historica had announced that formerly confidential government archives dating back to Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) regime would be published online in April next year.
The institute said it hopes to finish compiling 260,000 documents by the end of this month for online publication as part of the government’s efforts toward transitional justice, adding that the collection would be missing a portion of KMT-related documents after the party refused publishing permission.
The institute said the collection includes documents related to the Northern Expedition — a KMT campaign led by Chiang against local warlords in China from 1926 to 1928; the Second Sino-Japanese War; China-Taiwan unification plans; and government suppression of civil strife.
The collection consists of manuscripts, electronic documents, letters, books, maps, photographs and other artifacts, 90 percent of which were confidential, the institute said, adding that it digitized the documents between 2001 and 2011, but could not publish them until now given their confidential nature.
Academia Historica president Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) said that in accordance with the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) all protected documents must be individually audited before they can be made available to the public.
In October, a meeting was convened between the Presidential Office and 18 government departments to expedite the auditing process, Wu said.
As documents dated prior to Dec. 7, 1949, were written in China, it was much easier to convince relevant parties to declassify them, Wu said.
Documents related to military affairs still need to be examined one at a time, Wu said, adding that those concerning foreign relations were deemed too sensitive to be declassified.
Documents concerning Chiang have never been declassified, Wu said, adding that it took him four months at a rate of about 60,000 documents per month to carefully inspect each article.
Wu said that 15,000 documents concerning late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) would be inspected and uploaded to the Web site by June next year, while those concerning former president Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦) and former vice president Chen Cheng (陳誠) would be inspected at another date.
Once the documents are uploaded they will be accessible from anywhere in the world, including China, Macao and Hong Kong, Wu said, adding that the Web site will incorporate restrictions on downloading or printing the documents in those regions.
Wu said that while he hopes to publish the documents with as much transparency as possible, some have criticized the restrictions on readers in China as an obstruction to academic freedom.
Wu said his team began digitizing documents after securing permission from the KMT’s party history museum, adding that he had assumed that permission extended to documents concerning party affairs.
Wu said that when he wrote to the KMT last month in preparation for posting the documents online he was told that a portion of the documents could not be published.
National Taipei University of Education’s Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture professor Lee Hsiao-feng (李筱峰) said that although the documents are KMT property, in the past there was no distinction made between nation and party.
Lee called on the KMT to cooperate with Wu’s team and allow the government to be transparent.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS