The government is seeking to identify potential victims of the 228 Incident who were previously unrecorded, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, adding that a new report on the brutal crackdown would be issued later this year.
Tsai made the remarks while receiving an overseas group of family members of victims.
In her address to the group, she said that victims’ families have long been concerned about the progress of transitional justice, adding that without their reminders, the government would not be able to honestly face the important event in the nation’s history and reflect on it, nor would there be any progress.
Photo: CNA
Since the beginning of Taiwan’s democratization, the government has made a series of efforts to implement transitional justice, including admitting its wrongdoing, issuing apologies to the victims of the Incident, launching investigations and offering compensation, Tsai said.
However, the process of discovering the truth and pursuing justice has no end, she said, adding that the government has the responsibility to contribute more.
In the past two years, the government has been more attentive than ever to the work of transitional justice, she said.
The 228 Incident was triggered by a clash between government officials and an illegal cigarette vendor in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947, leading to protests a day later that were violently suppressed.
The crackdown triggered a broader anti-government uprising that was put down by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted into early May that year, a 1992 probe commissioned by the Executive Yuan found.
From the legal side, the 2017 passage of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) offers solid legal ground for the implementation of transitional justice, Tsai said.
From an organizational perspective, the Transitional Justice Promotion Committee last year began its work and the 228 Memorial Foundation would continue to unearth details about the Incident and identify potential victims who were previously unknown, she said.
Through the National Human Rights Museum that officially opened last year, the public would have more opportunities to better understand the implications of transitional justice, she added.
“We will never forget and we will not stop” seeking the truth, seeking those accountable and promoting history education, Tsai said.
She said that she hopes family members of the Incident’s victims would continue to provide suggestions and participate in relevant discussions to more thoroughly implement transitional justice.
COMMITMENT: The world’s biggest contract chipmaker said that its new 2nm chips, as well as next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4nm chips, will be produced in Taiwan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that the majority of its most advanced chips would continue to be manufactured in Taiwan and that it is boosting advanced chip packaging capacity to catch up with fast-growing demand driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications like ChatGPT. Deeply rooted in Taiwan, TSMC is expanding production capacity for its most advanced 3-nanometer (nm) chips at its Tainan fab and is building new plants to produce new 2-nanometer chips in Hsinchu and Taichung in 2025. The chipmaker also plans to produce next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4-nanometer chips, which are currently under development, at home, it
Former US president Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former US president to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw. The US Department of Justice was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week amid a presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump is convicted. It also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump
PASSAGE DISPUTE: A US and Canadian transit was a provocation and an attempt to ‘exercise hegemony of navigation,’ China’s defense ministry told a forum in Singapore The Ministry of National Defense yesterday urged the Chinese Communist Party to avoid provocative behavior after a Chinese navy ship crossed the paths of a US destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait. A Chinese ship on Saturday “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of [the USS] Chung-Hoon,” an American destroyer, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The vessel “overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards [137m]. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 [knots, 18.5kph] to avoid a collision,” the statement said. It then “crossed Chung-Hoon’s bow a second time
HARD-WON FREEDOM: Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters has not been and should not be forgotten, as China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, Lai said Taiwanese enjoy democracy and freedom and have multiple ways to express their creativity, and hopefully young people in China would also one day have the freedom to sing and express themselves, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s bloody crackdown on student-led protests in Beijing in 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident. Tsai posted a photograph taken in March in a subway station in Guizhou, China, where hundreds of young people gathered to sing People With No Ideals Don’t Get Hurt (沒有理想的人不傷心), saying that they