Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) yesterday said he would leave the party and would not seek re-election, as he confirmed a report that he worked as an informant for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian regime when he was a student.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Saturday that Huang, 57, worked as an informant for the KMT when he was in college.
Huang yesterday on Facebook said he accepts political responsibility for working with the authoritarian government to spy on his fellow students when he was in university and apologized to those affected by his actions.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
He also said he would resign from the DPP.
“Back then, I made friends with dissidents, and the authorities came to me saying that I would ‘run into trouble’ if I kept associating with the dissidents,” he wrote. “They told me that I would be protected if I helped them gather information.”
After several meetings with the authorities he believed them and cooperated with their demands, he wrote.
Huang did not specify for how long he provided information or when, only saying that he was in his early 20s at the time, which means he became an informant in the mid-1980s, not long before martial law was lifted in 1987.
“Since taking office [as a lawmaker] I have worked hard to promote Taiwan’s local history and culture. I believe that was my way of seeking redemption,” he wrote. “I cannot take back what I have done, but I still hope to contribute to Taiwanese society.”
Huang said he would finish his term as legislator and withdraw from the DPP afterward to perform cultural and public welfare roles.
DPP spokeswoman Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said the party respected Huang’s decision, as well as his “bravery in facing his past.”
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) praised Huang and said he hoped Huang would remain in the DPP to “help it defend Taiwan.”
DPP Legislator Fan Yun (范雲), who has said she was monitored by the KMT for years during the Martial Law era, said she was “shocked and deeply hurt” upon learning about Huang’s past actions, but that she also felt his admission was “an important first step” toward bringing facts to light.
DPP Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said he respected Huang, adding that he felt that during the Martial Law era it was not uncommon for people to do things that were uncharacteristic of them.
Asked about the issue, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said he had no comment, but described it as the DPP’s factional infighting.
However, he said that the authoritarian government during the Martial Law era was a product of the times and was not the real KMT.
Chu said democracy in Taiwan has regressed under the DPP administration.
The DPP is an “authoritarian regime” that does not allow diversity or dissent, he said.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui and CNA
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
INTENSIFYING THREATS: Beijing’s tactics include massive attacks on the government service network, aircraft and naval vessel incursions and damaging undersea cables China is prepared to interfere in November’s nine-in-one local elections by launching massive attacks on the Taiwanese government’s service network (GSN), a report published by the National Security Bureau showed. The report was submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of the bureau’s scheduled briefing at the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The national security team has identified about 13,000 suspicious Internet accounts and 860,000 disputed messages, the bureau said of China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan. The disputed messages focus on major foreign affairs, national defense and economic issues, which were produced using generative artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed through Chinese
RSS