The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday said it is recommending legal amendments that would hold perpetrators of White Terror offences accountable for their actions.
The amendments being mulled are to include the revocation of government stipends and commendations, and that a draft would be completed by May next year, the commission told a news conference in Taipei.
The commission is to probe into declassified national security archives to identify perpetrators, especially the then-heads of state apparatuses who can be charged or disciplined for crimes, commission spokeswoman Chen Yu-fan (陳雨凡) said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
This means those accused of committing crimes would face justice in court, while the internal affairs units of the civil service would deal with public servants whose alleged misdeeds did not meet the standards of a crime, she said.
Mechanisms would be put in place to encourage reconciliation by allowing perpetrators to tell the truth in exchange for leniency or immunity, Chen said.
Although many perpetrators would by now be deceased, the responsibility to bring the past into light still exists, she added.
The commission’s acting minister, Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈), said the commission’s research is focused on the military tribunal system and the political framework of the party-state system.
The single-party state system enabled the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to politicize the bureaucratic system, Yeh said.
The KMT controlled the administration of the country from the national government down to villages, the judicial branch, the education system and the foreign affairs establishment; the latter gave it the ability to affect people living outside the country’s borders, she said.
However, the commission does not have a clear idea of the operational system of domestic surveillance under the authoritarian regime, she said.
National security agencies remain reluctant to disclose the identities of their informants, and the commission is continuing to negotiate with them, she added.
The amendments being drafted would define the perimeters of responsibility for perpetrators, select and empower the agencies in charge of investigations, and establish systems of remedy and other technical guidelines, Yeh said.
The commission has granted 100 of 163 applicants access to the White Terror-era national security archives, it said, adding that requests are granted in all cases in which relevant files can be located.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) and Deng Chu-mei (鄭竹梅) — the daughter of Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who self-immolated in 1989 in defense of “100 percent freedom of expression” — were among those who filed for archival access.
The commission released the information in the wake of a media report last week that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) was an informant for the KMT in his student days.
Huang confirmed the report and said he would leave the party and not seek re-election.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS