The government’s ongoing push for transitional justice is intended to ensure that Taiwanese can live in a censor-free society without fear of being punished by an authoritarian government, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at a memorial ceremony to mark the 72nd anniversary of the 228 Incident.
Tsai said that as she arrived at the ceremony at Taipei’s 228 Peace Memorial Park she saw many young children and their parents enjoying a day off due to the national holiday.
The government is pushing to implement transitional justice to ensure that all Taiwanese live in a censor-free society “where people can read whatever they like and express their views without fear of being taken away by police in the middle of the night,” she said, referring to what happened to many during a brutal crackdown on an anti-government uprising in 1947 and the decades-long White Terror era that followed.
Photo: CNA
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 the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) military forces.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted into early May that year, a 1992 investigation commissioned by the Executive Yuan found.
Photo: CNA
Since Taiwan became a democracy, successive governments have made efforts to implement transitional justice, including admitting wrongdoing, issuing apologies to victims of the Incident, launching investigations and paying compensation, Tsai said.
This is an ongoing process as the government works to identify more potential victims of the Incident who were previously unrecorded, she said, adding that it would issue a new report later this year on the crackdown.
The 228 Memorial Foundation has already compiled a list of 400 people who might have been victims of the Incident, but whose families have yet to file for compensation, she said.
“This shows that we still have an insufficient understanding of the truth of that history,” Tsai said.
The president said that she does not subscribe to the view that such efforts are made as a means for the Democratic Progressive Party to score political points.
“Every democratic nation has to face the wounds of authoritarian rule. Psychological and emotional trauma will not heal itself,” Tsai said.
These measures are intended to serve as a reminder that the same mistakes would not be made again, she told the ceremony, which was attended by Incident victims and their families.
People lined up to pay tribute to the victims, laying lilies on a monument in the park.
Among the participants at the event was a four-person parliamentary delegation from Germany headed by Germany-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch.
Attending the event was a show of respect to the victims of the Incident, which ultimately paved the way for freedom, democracy and rule of law in Taiwan, Willsch told reporters.
Promoting transitional justice has always been important for his country and Germany can work closely with Taiwan, he said.
Willsch said that he was accompanied on his previous visit in May last year by German Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic Roland Jahn to share his country’s experience in this area with local authorities.
The agency preserves and protects archives, and investigates the past actions of the former State Security Service, commonly known as the Stasi, which served as a secret police and foreign intelligence organization in communist-ruled East Germany.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS