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.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS