The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday posthumously exonerated five prison inmates who were executed after the 1970 Taiyuan Prison Insurrection.
The five Taiwan independence advocates, held at the prison in Taitung County, seized weapons and broke out of the facility, but were later captured.
They hoped to lead an uprising against the nation’s military dictatorship and proclaim independence, said Kao Chin-lang (高金郎), who was a political prisoner in Taiyuan Prison at the time of the insurrection
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Kao has for several years organized events to commemorate the five inmates — Cheng Chin-ho (鄭金河), Chiang Ping-hsing (江炳興), Chen Liang (陳良), Chan Tien-tseng (詹天增) and Hsieh Tung-jung (謝東榮) — who were executed on May 30, 1970, after a short military trial.
A sixth prisoner, Cheng Cheng-cheng (鄭正成), who was involved in the insurrection, evaded being executed as the five claimed he had been their hostage.
The commission yesterday exonerated the five of all criminal charges.
Chiang’s younger sister, Chiang Yueh-wei (江月瑋), broke down in tears following the announcement of his exoneration at a news conference held by the commission in Taipei.
“Our whole family is honored by my uncle’s sacrifice,” Chiang Yueh-wei’s son said.
Former political prisoner Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕) thanked the commission for the exonerations, calling it the “return of justice to Taiwanese society.”
The commission said that the five saved several fellow prisoners who were involved in planning the insurrection by refusing to reveal their names.
“The ruling in this insurrection case was based on then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) will — it was a breach of the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the constitutional rights of these men,” the commission said.
Their actions were at the time determined to contravene Article 100 of the Criminal Code — sanctioning sedition — which resulted in the revocation of their rights and freedoms, including their right to resist and to express their political views, it said.
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
RSS