On the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia yesterday, pro-localization groups again urged the government to establish a memorial park and a monument to commemorate the Taiwanese who died in the Japanese campaign, a history that they said was deliberately neglected by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
Advocates and academics said the memorial park and monument should be built to counter the historical narrative imposed by the KMT regime that stressed the Republic of China’s role in the Second Sino-Japanese War, while the forgotten history of Taiwan in World War II involved Taiwanese conscripts fighting for Japan across Asia and the Pacific, as well as Allied air raids on Taiwan.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a total of 207,183 Taiwanese served in the military of Imperial Japan either as soldiers or in noncombat capacities, of whom 30,300 were killed in action and more than 20,000 were missing in action.
“The number of Taiwanese war dead was more than those persecuted in the 228 Incident, but there has been no memorial service in Taiwan to commemorate wartime victims,” Aletheia University professor Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said.
“Some Taiwanese have been criticized for paying tribute to Taiwanese war dead enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan, but there is no monument to commemorate them in Taiwan,” Chen said.
Taiwan’s wartime history was neglected and distorted to serve the KMT regime’s China-centric narratives, and the nation has yet to face its wartime history to bring about transitional justice and reconciliation, Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Peter Chang (張信堂) said.
“It was not until last year, when the association held an exhibition about US air raids on Taiwan during World War II, that many Taiwanese realized Taiwan was ever bombed by the Allies. They came to understand that their history was dramatically different from what was taught in schools,” Chang said.
Taiwanese have been taught history that is not closely relevant to Taiwan, and few people know that more than 20,000 Taiwanese are enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine, National Chengchi University history professor Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said.
Taiwan Tower, a monument to remember Taiwanese servicemen fighting for Japan, was unveiled in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture in June, and there is a similar monument in the Philippines, but Taiwan does not have its own memorial park and monuments to remember that history, they said.
While countries remember World War II with a variety of ceremonies and works of art, Taiwan is oblivious to its wartime past, New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said.
Taiwan suffered great losses during the war, as more than 3,000 civilians were killed in the Taipei Air Raid on May 31, 1945, Lim said, adding that 173 Taiwanese were convicted as war criminals.
“Taiwan does not have any national-level memorial for its wartime history. Even now, attempts to address Taiwan’s wartime history will be stigmatized. However, it is time that we remember that history,” Lim said.
A monument could be built on the green plot in front of the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei, which used to be a train station and a military factory during the Japanese colonial era, he said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS