Taipei Times: The KMT's Party History Center has criticized the report as "biased," saying that documents show that Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) ordered Chen Yi (陳儀) to refrain from "strictly enforcing the law" and warned that military and government personnel should avoid taking vengeance on the people or face "severe punishment."
Chang Yen-hsien
Declassified official documents indicate that Chiang Kai-shek did not take the initiative in giving the order but had responded to a request from Control Yuan president Yu You-jen (
PHOTO: MENG CHING-TZU, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu made the request after a Control Yuan member, Yang Liang-kung (
Historical documents also show that the situation not only did not improve after March 13 but deteriorated.
On March 21, the Taiwan executive administration launched a qingxiang (清鄉, "village cleansing") campaign, with military personnel conducting a census and arresting "suspicious" people. When the campaign concluded on May 15, many military personnel were promoted.
PHOTO: WANG CHUN-CHUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
If Chiang Kai-shek's order had been taken seriously, there would not have been any "village cleansing" campaign nor any promotion of military personnel.
TT: Chiang Kai-shek's grandson, KMT Legislator John Chiang
(Editor's note: John Chiang has sued Chang; Chen Chin-huang (陳錦煌), the head of the 228 Incident Memorial Foundation; and Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), the report's chief author, for slander and has asked for NT$5 billion [US$154 million] in compensation.)
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chang: If the study were politically motivated, we should have made the report public before the 2004 presidential election or last year's local government elections.
What we want to do here is to resurrect history and find out the truth of the matter. The issue was taboo during the KMT's authoritarian rule. [Since then] there has been discussion of the victims, but nothing about the culprits.
Taiwan has transformed itself from an authoritarian country to a democracy. It would be a disadvantage to the country's democratic development if we did not talk about the issue and have to pretend that everything is fine.
PHOTO: LUO TIEN-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
The truth of the matter is Mainlanders should not be held responsible because they are the victims, like the Taiwanese. It was those who ran the country [who were at fault].
TT: KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) argued that it was the actions of local government "officials" who pushed the people into rebelling rather than the KMT or Chiang Kai-shek.
Chang: His argument does not stand up to examination and is a way of evading responsibility.
The public has to understand that the KMT dominated local politics and government during the past 50 years and Chiang Kai-shek served as head of state for five terms.
The KMT took possession of Taiwan from the Japanese government on Oct. 25, 1945. The 228 Incident occured one-and-a-half years later, on Feb. 27, 1947. If the KMT should not be held responsible, who should?
Many of the documents show that the people of Taiwan were unhappy with the way the KMT was ruling the island because it considered itself a conqueror and did not put the interests of Taiwan first. The Taiwanese people did not feel [World War II] was over.
TT: A group of academics has criticized the report as "seriously distorting the facts" and instead blamed the Taiwanese for causing the massacre. They said the report should not have mixed up victims with "insurgents" or make heroes out of rebels.
Chang: This report is based on personal interviews, declassified official documents and takes into consideration the historical background. I respect and welcome constructive opinions, but would like to see the critics produce concrete evidence to prove their allegations.
They [the victims] were indeed called "rebels" by the administration in 1947, but the 1992 official report [commissioned by the Executive Yuan] concludes that they were not and should not be called that.
The group [of academics] is apparently speaking from the viewpoint of the KMT administration rather than that of the public. There is no point in studying history if we only see history from the standpoint of those who are in power.
To be honest with you, I have mixed feelings about the report. As a historian dedicated to the study of Taiwan's history, I am sorry that it has taken 40 years to find out the truth about the 228 Incident. I am happy, though, about what we have accomplished so far. I'd like to see other experts -- other than historians -- undertake further studies based on our findings.
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