An expert in the history of Taiwanese prisoner of war (POW) guards donated belongings of two guards to the Taiwan Extra-Patriot Veterans Association in Greater -Kaohsiung yesterday in an effort to reveal the past to more people.
Lee Chan-ping (李展平), a retired compiler at Taiwan Historica, which is part of Academia Historica, made the donation to the association during a seminar on Taiwan’s involvement in wars in modern history. The seminar included film of Japan’s Aug. 15, 1945, surrender to the Allies at the end of World War II.
Objects of historical value handed over by Lee included old uniforms, glasses and shoes that belonged to Ke Ching-hsing (柯景星), a Taiwanese guard who gave his belongings to Lee before he died last year at the age of 91. Ke was sent to Borneo as a POW guard during World War II, when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, to guard some of the thousands of Allied POWs there. After the war, Ke and many other guards were imprisoned for decades for their part in the abuse of captives.
Lee said that although the historical artifacts were worth little money, they bore the “bitter stories of blood and tears from insignificant people in the tragedy of the times.”
Poems, songs, diaries and letters written by another POW guard, Lin Shui-mu (林水木), when he was in prison after the war, were also among the donated objects.
Lee, who has dedicated himself to digging up the stories of the POW guards and written two books on the subject, said 11 Taiwanese guards were given the death penalty and another 173 were incarcerated for between two and 25 years, many of whom committed suicide in prison.
Lee’s research, which he began in 2003, has taken him to former POW camps around Taiwan and in Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines. He said that Ke, who was forced by his Japanese superiors to shoot two captives, was originally given a death sentence by the International Court of Justice. The ruling was reduced to 10 years in prison on appeal, but many others were not so lucky, Lee said.
Lee compared the POW guards to Taiwanese comfort women, who have yet to receive an apology from the Japanese government for their treatment as sex slaves by the Japanese Army during World War II.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS