The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been using the 228 Incident “as an ATM” to help it in elections, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said yesterday, adding that many of the people who have received national compensation in relation to the incident are not real victims.
Hung made the statement while addressing attendants at a memorial service for forgotten victims of the 228 Incident hosted by the Sun Yat-sen School.
Hung, whose father was a victim of the White Terror era, said she rarely comments on the Incident, adding that it is the hope of the families of victims of political persecution that the truth would be told one day.
“Unfortunately, this tragic event has for years been used by politicians who have twisted the facts of the Incident. As a result, many people have chosen to remain silent, not knowing how to talk about it,” she said.
“We absolutely support the government’s policy of apologizing to the families of the innocent victims of the 228 Incident and offering them compensation for any improper handling of events by the government at the time,” Hung said.
“However, we need to determine whether the Incident happened as a result of the government’s persecution of the people, or because the government decided to take action against civilians who rioted,” she said.
“Is it really true that the government abused its power to kill innocent people?” she asked.
The KMT has been plagued by allegations about its role in the Incident, Hung said, adding that the party should use all the means at its disposal to disclose the facts about the Incident, rather than keep apologizing for it.
Many people who have been compensated by the government are not true victims of the Incident, she added.
“We must not allow anyone to hide historic facts in the name of transitional justice, and produce divisions and hatred among our own people,” Hung said.
“Nor should we let anyone use transitional justice to disguise their intentions of seeking independence for Taiwan,” she said, adding that Chinese who have long since struck roots in Taiwan should not have to keep bearing the “original sin” of the Incident.
Blue Sky Action Alliance convener Wu Chih-chang (武之璋) said that all politicians, including former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), have avoided mentioning Chinese people in Taiwan who were killed in the 228 Incident, which occurred while the KMT still had a presence in China.
Although the exact number of Chinese victims of the Incident is unclear due to a lack of official accounts, most of them were innocent tourists and businesspeople, Wu said.
“They often traveled alone in Taiwan and lacked protection. When they died, their bodies were cremated. Their names were unknown, and their families did not know whether they lived or died,” Wu said.
Former Nanjing Daily Taiwan correspondent Tang Hsien-lung (唐賢龍) in May 1947 published a book titled Record of Taiwan’s Uprising (台灣事變內幕記), which offers a detailed account of the Incident, Wu said.
“Researchers from the pan-green camp have all studied this book, but have chosen only to discuss the parts where Tang criticizes the KMT administration’s mishandling of the situation,” Wu said. “They have not mentioned a single word about Tang’s description of the rioters.”
Research by a team including Wu that collected information from the archives of the US Department of State shows that former US diplomat in Taiwan George Kerr made up stories about the Incident, Wu said.
School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) said that the 228 Incident has helped the DPP create a basis for its political ideology with the goal of suppressing mainlanders and painting the KMT administration as an evil, foreign regime.
However, at the same time, Chang criticized the KMT for ignoring victims of the events.
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