Taiwanese democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), whose advocacy helped the nation transition from an authoritarian state, died yesterday morning at the age of 98.
In announcing his passing on Facebook, the Peng Foundation for Culture and Education said there would be no public funeral, and that Peng would be cremated and interred at the Yanguang Cemetery in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮).
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was saddened by the news, describing Peng as not only a renowned legal academic, but also a trailblazer in Taiwan’s democracy movement.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Peng inspired generations of Taiwanese to safeguard the country’s sovereignty, dignity, democracy and freedom, Chang said, quoting Tsai, adding that she expressed her condolences to Peng’s family.
Born in Taichung in August 1923, Peng graduated from National Taiwan University (NTU) in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
He earned master’s and doctoral degrees in law from McGill University in Canada in 1953 and the University of Paris in 1954 respectively. After finishing his studies in France, he returned to teach at NTU.
In the early 1960s, the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime tried to groom him to become a government official, but he instead became an outspoken democracy advocate.
Peng in 1964 drafted A Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation with his students Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏) and Wei Ting-chao (魏廷朝).
The document called Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) dream of “retaking the mainland” unattainable, and advocated for “one Taiwan, one China,” a new constitution, joining the UN as “Taiwan” and creating a free nation.
Peng was arrested over the manifesto and convicted of sedition. While under house arrest, he escaped to Sweden in 1970 and remained in exile for more than two decades. It was during that time he established the Formosan Association for Public Affairs in the US and lobbied for the end of martial law in Taiwan.
Peng returned to Taiwan in 1992 and launched his foundation, dedicated to promoting Taiwanese culture, and in 1996, he ran as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) first presidential candidate on a ticket with Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), now representative to Japan.
Peng finished second in the four-way race, won by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
In 2000, Peng was a senior adviser to then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Many DPP politicians yesterday also expressed sorrow over Peng’s passing.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) called Peng’s life “a history book on Taiwan’s democracy,” saying he was “a spiritual leader of Taiwan’s independence movement,” and that Peng’s faith would remain in the nation and in the minds of all Taiwanese.
Taiwanese must keep fighting for Peng’s goals, which include Taiwan joining the UN and becoming a normalized country, DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and Hsieh Chun-lin
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
RSS