President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that the government would take the lead in investigating the 228 Incident and find those accountable for the tragic chapter in the nation’s history.
The government will investigate the Incident, present the truth and pursue those who are accountable to remedy the current status of “only victims, but no perpetrators,” the president said.
“We will not forget [the mission], nor will we circumvent it,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Tsai said she wants to let society reflect more deeply on the mistakes of the Incident, learn from it and move toward reconciliation to create a “democratic, just and united nation.”
The 228 Incident was triggered by a clash between government officials and an illegal cigarette vendor on Feb. 27, 1947. The event turned into an anti-government uprising and was violently put down by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted for several weeks into early May that year, according to an investigation commissioned by the Executive Yuan in 1992.
Photo: CNA
Tsai made the remarks while receiving an overseas group consisting of family members of some of the victims, who were accompanied by Overseas Community Affairs Council Deputy Minister Tien Chiu-chin (田秋蓳), in a closed-door meeting.
“I will instruct related government agencies to continue to sort the files from the authoritarian era, so that the truth that has been kept in the dark for 70 years will come to light,” the president said.
In her address to the group, Tsai was quoted in a news release as saying that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Incident, adding that Taiwan lost almost a whole generation of its elite due to the mistakes committed by the authoritarian rulers of the time.
“Even today, Taiwanese are still suffering from the consequences of the 228 Incident,” she said.
After Taiwan became democratic, people were finally able to openly discuss the Incident, she said.
The government has admitted mistakes, apologized, set up monuments and has probed the truth. It has also rehabilitated the names of victims and compensated their families in a bid to heal the trauma.
However, the president said she knows clearly that for the families of the victims, the government’s work is far from complete.
“We should not forget history, nor our trauma,” she said.
She said that she attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day activity in Taipei on Sunday and acutely felt the courage of Germany in facing its historical mistakes.
She pointed out that the German government, academics and the private sector have continued to probe the historical facts in a bid to more carefully dig out the truth and have continued to prosecute Nazi war criminals.
Germany’s experience is inspirational to Taiwan, she said, adding that the pursuit of historical truth and the preservation of history are long-term social goals.
The government has an obligation to continue to more thoroughly probe the truth of the Incident in an open and transparent manner so that the accountability of those responsible can be more clear and detailed, she said.
Among the files collected by the Archive Bureau, only a few have yet to be declassified, Tsai said.
She said that as far as she knows, four files belong to the Overseas Community Affairs Council, which is coordinating the process “to declassify them as soon as possible.”
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
IMPORTS: Fifty-four million imported eggs with a value of more than NT$200 million had to be destroyed, mostly because they expired in storage facilities Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) last night announced that he would resign from his post. Local media on Sunday reported that Chen had resigned due to controversy over the ministry’s egg import program. Later that same evening, the Executive Yuan said that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) had asked the minister to stay on to resolve the issue. Chen Chi-chung last night made public his decision to resign on Facebook, saying that this time he would not be dissuaded. Chen Chi-chung earlier yesterday apologized for the furor surrounding the egg import program, but added that misinformation had made the problems worse. The government was