The Presidential Office yesterday expressed condolences over the death of Taiwanese independence activist and former senior adviser to the president Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏), who passed away at a New Taipei City hospital on Sunday at the age of 85.
Born in 1934, Hsieh was a role model in the fight for Taiwanese democracy and was part of the effort to help Taiwanese political prisoners escape the clutches of the-then authoritarian Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime in the 1970s and 1980s, the Presidential Office said.
It lauded Hsieh’s courage and contribution to the nation in the pursuit of freedom and democracy.
In 1964, Hsieh codrafted “A Declaration of Formosan Self-salvation” with his professor, Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), and classmate, Wei Ting-chao (魏廷朝), when he was a graduate student at National Chengchi University.
The declaration was a manifesto that stated Taiwan and China were two separate nations and that Taiwan’s future should be decided by its people.
Shortly after it was issued, Peng, Wei and Hsieh were arrested. Hsieh was imprisoned for more than 11 years.
After his release, he went to the US and during his seven years there, he helped many political prisoners in Taiwan flee the KMT regime.
He later returned to Taiwan and was elected as a Democratic Progressive Party legislator, serving two terms from 1992 to 1998.
During that period, Hsieh put forth a series of bills on compensation for victims of the White Terror era like himself. The bills were passed in 1998.
In December last year, Hsieh was exonerated by the Transitional Justice Commission.
The White Terror era was a period of political persecution in Taiwan that lasted from 1949 to 1987 during the KMT’s governance.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
RSS