Former commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Army Sun Li-jen (孫立人) was exonerated by the Control Yuan yesterday of a coup d’etat charge dating from 1955, a charge that led to him being detained under house arrest in Taipei for 33 years.
The general fell into disfavor with then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) amid rumors that the US wanted to see Sun replace Chiang.
One of Sun’s officers, Major Kuo Ting-liang (郭廷亮) was arrested in 1955 and tortured into writing a confession that he had been spying for the People’s Republic of China.
Kuo’s confession was then used by Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), who was then head of the secret police, as the basis for charges that Sun had harbored communist spies and was plotting a coup d’etat.
Sun was arrested and court-martialed in August 1955. Found guilty, he was placed under house arrest, where he remained until March 1988, following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo, even though Kuo later said he had been coerced into writing the confession and falsifying its date.
The latest Control Yuan probe into the Sun case was led by Lee Ping-nan (李炳南) and lasted a two-and-a-half years.
Lee twice visited the US to examine Chiang Kai-shek diaries archived in the Stanford University Library, and reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents and original papers from the military’s Political Affairs Department, the Investigation Bureau and the National Archives Administration.
Lee released a report on the probe yesterday that supported Kuo’s claim of torture.
“Kuo was forced to confess under torture and coercion, which took place somewhere between July 9 to 20 [1955]. This can be verified from Chiang Kai-shek’s diary,” Lee said. “But the military forced Kuo to falsely date the confession June 6, 1955. The date was left blank, and was filled in later.”
“Findings from the investigation can exonerate General Sun. It can be proven that Kuo was not a spy, but his confession was forced and falsified,” Lee said.
Sun was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. He led his New 38th Division troops to battle victories over the Japanese Imperial Army in Burma during World War II, and was respected by US and British commanders. He became commander-in-chief of the army in 1950. However, Sun was frequently at odds with Chiang Kai-shek’s plan to launch a military invasion “to take back the mainland” from the communists.
After Sun’s arrest in 1955, Chiang Kai-shek appointed a nine-man commission, headed by then-vice president Chen Cheng (陳誠), to investigate the matter. The Control Yuan formed its own five-man commission to investigate.
The nine-man commission declared Kuo guilty of spying and using his relationship with Sun to conspire against the ROC government. However, the Control Yuan’s commission concluded Sun and Kuo had only been preparing a report for Chiang Kai-shek outlining measures to reform the military. It found no evidence of a coup conspiracy.
However, the complete records of that Control Yuan report were only made public in 2001, Lee said.
Sun’s relatives, along with people in military circles and academia, have pressed the government for decades to clear Sun’s name.
Lee said his investigation had found that Kuo was arrested on May 25, 1955, and tortured for more than 10 days, but would not confess.
“Later the military used other ways and inducements to entice Kuo, and thus produced the ‘confession letter’ in which he admitted spying for communist China, and the date was filled in afterwards,” Lee said.
However, Lee said that his investigation showed Kuo was a victim, but had also benefited from his cooperation with the military because his family received a NT$500 monthly stipend from the government.
The fallout from the charges against Sun in 1955 led to the arrest and imprisonment of more than 300 people by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
Taipei resident Mu Chu-hua caught some glimpses of China’s mighty military parade on YouTube on Wednesday. As she watched hypersonic missiles roll down Beijing’s Changan Avenue and troops march in lockstep, she did not feel like they posed a threat to Taiwan. Mu, a 69-year-old retiree, said she saw the parade as simply a way for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to “say thank you to the troops.” “I thought it was quite normal,” she said. “It was very cool.” China’s military parade commemorating the end of World War II was being watched internationally for insights into Beijing’s military advances and its show
RSS