On Nov. 8, newly elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and Vice Chairman Chi Lin-len (季麟連) attended a memorial for White Terror era victims, during which convicted Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spies such as Wu Shi (吳石) were also honored.
Cheng’s participation in the ceremony, which she said was part of her efforts to promote cross-strait reconciliation, has trapped herself and her party into the KMT’s dark past, and risks putting the party back on its old disastrous road.
Wu, a lieutenant general who was the Ministry of National Defense’s deputy chief of the general staff, was recruited by the CCP to spy on the KMT. He was executed in 1950 after being convicted as a spy.
Wu leaked crucial military intelligence, including the military deployment plan in the Huaihai Campaign (淮海戰役), which resulted in the KMT’s crushing defeat and the deaths of more than 550,000 Nationalist Army troops.
While Wu was convicted as a traitor in Taiwan, Beijing has long praised him as a “martyr” who contributed to the CCP’s takeover of China. This year, Chinese state media even released a TV series propagating Wu’s espionage work in Taiwan as a “noble act to promote cross-strait unification.”
It is ironic that Cheng, as KMT chair, showed up at a ceremony hosted by the pro-unification Taiwan Political Victims Mutual Aid Association to commemorate political victims of the White Terror era, and to publicly honor Wu and other spies as martyrs. Her action could damage the KMT, as it not only shone light on the ugly history of the party’s authoritarian rule, but also aligned with China’s propaganda regarding the CCP defeating the KMT to occupy the mainland.
Cheng is blurring right and wrong by lumping together political victims and treasonous spies.
The KMT has blocked the promotion of White Terror-related compensation measures, such as the Regulations for the Organization and Operation of the Review Committee for Judicial Misconduct and Administrative Misconduct During the Period of Authoritarian Rule (司法不法及行政不法審查組織條例). Meanwhile, Cheng is commemorating Wu, using White Terror victims as a pretext to echo the CCP’s distortion of the Chinese Civil War to vilify the KMT and belittle Taiwan.
On top of Cheng’s previous comments, such as “making all Taiwanese proud to be Chinese” and “Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator,” Cheng giving tribute to Chinese spies shows she is pro-China and pro-unification, and oblivious to Taiwan’s dignity and de facto independence.
Cheng has not only drawn public criticism, but also raised doubts within her own party. Former KMT legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said the party might as well change its name to the “Chinese Nationalist Surrender Party.”
A poll released on Tuesday by the Taiwan Opinion Foundation found that more than 50 percent of Taiwanese see the KMT as a pro-China party, and not an anti-communist force. More than 52 percent also believed the party is untrustworthy.
A democratic society could allow different perspectives of history, but it should not tolerate the deliberate confusion of basic values of national identity and fidelity. Cheng’s goal of so-called “cross-strait reconciliation” should not come at the expense of Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity.
Cheng and the KMT should face history and remember that dancing with the devil only leads to a disastrous fate.
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