The Mainland Democratic Movement Support Group (血脈相連大陸民主運動後援會) is unfamiliar to many in Taiwan’s younger generation.
But following the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 4, 1989, it was a prominent activist group whose members secretly entered China to try to rescue threatened democracy activists.
Twenty years ago, it had more than 100 members, but that number dwindled over the years to less than a dozen.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The remaining members got together to organize a series of events in Taipei’s Liberty Square to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre on Wednesday night.
The events began at 6:04pm on Wednesday when former New Party legislators Yao Li-ming (姚立明) and Chien Ta (錢達) led supporters as they rode bikes around National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall 20 times.
At around 9pm, Yao, Chien, Chinese democracy activist Cai Lujun (蔡陸軍) and former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) delivered speeches and sang songs to commemorate the tragedy before staging an overnight sit-in on the square.
Photos taken at Tiananmen in 1989 and a documentary on the massacre were also shown.
Participants lit candles for those who died during the massacre.
Despite heavy rainfall yesterday, several people still remained at Liberty Square.
One volunteer, Ms Liu (劉), sobbed on Wednesday as she told the group’s story.
On the evening of June 3, 1989, students at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and supporters in Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall sang with each other via a radio broadcast, which was abruptly cut off around 11pm, soon after Taiwanese artist Chen Pai-chung broadcast from the square that the Chinese army had entered Beijing. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) then began their crackdown on the protesters.
Chen called on volunteers to support the democracy movement after returning from China. Later in 1990, the group raised funds from overseas Chinese democracy activists to purchase a secondhand cargo ship, the Goddess of Democracy (民主女神號), hoping to sail between Taiwan and China to broadcast the truth about the incident. Unexpectedly, the Taiwanese government refused to approve the plan.
Tainan businessman Wu Meng-wu (吳孟武) later bought the ship, which is now berthed in Tainan’s Anping Harbor as part of exhibits related to the incident.
The group’s annual commemoration ceremony continued for 10 years but because of dwindling membership, the event was changed to biannual.
Even the song Wound of History (歷史的傷口), sung by a group of Taiwanese singers to show their support, has gradually been forgotten.
The group attempted to contact old members this year, but was unable to track many of them down.
Others said it “was inconvenient to participate in politics again,” as they were doing business with China.
Meanwhile, the lack of interest of both the Taiwanese government and public disheartened members.
“I cannot accept the CCP regime’s method of killing civilians with tanks,” another volunteer, Ms Chung (鍾), said.
“Our aims have been simple over the past 20 years. Although cross-strait relations have improved, we have not altered our original intentions,” she said.
“We do not intend to subvert or eliminate the CCP regime. We just want to awaken the outside world’s most basic humanitarian concerns,” Chung said.
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
President William Lai (賴清德) is expected to announce a new advanced “all-domain” air defense system to better defend against China when he gives his keynote national day speech today, four sources familiar with the matter said. Taiwan is ramping up defense spending and modernizing its armed forces, but faces a China that has a far larger military and is adding its own advanced new weapons such as stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles. Lai is expected to announce the air defense system dubbed “Taiwan Dome” in his speech this morning, one of the sources said. The system
RSS