People with links to victims of the White Terror era yesterday called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to reflect more on a Taiwanese perspective of history and not cater to minority views that glorify former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Hsu Wen-tang (許文堂) and others told an academic conference titled “Transitional Justice and Assessing Historic Roles of Chiang Ching-kuo” in Taipei that Tsai should examine history more closely.
At an event on Jan. 22 to open a memorial park for Chiang, Tsai called for solidarity and mutual understanding, saying that the former leader’s “staunch defense of Taiwan is a stance that unites a large part of Taiwanese society, especially as Beijing applies ever greater pressure against the country.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Foundation chairwoman Yang Huang Mei-hsing (楊黃美幸) told the conference, hosted by the Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation, that “Taiwan came under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) state rule, during which Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was a brutal dictator, while Chiang Ching-kuo had other roles.”
“The most prominent of Chiang Ching-kuo’s roles was heading the secret police and state intelligence agencies,” Yang Huang said.
During the White Terror era, many people were executed, most without a trial, she said, adding that this led to untold pain and suffering, broken homes and poverty for the families of those who were killed.
“Chiang Ching-kuo ran the anti-communism policies,” which served the interests of the KMT and the Chiang family, but “Taiwanese became embroiled in the Chinese Civil War, which extended White Terror oppression and the atrocities in Taiwan,” she said.
Taiwan 228 Care Association director Wang Wen-hung (王文宏) said that Chiang Ching-kuo had no concept of democracy or human rights, which his diary and other written records show.
“Chiang Ching-kuo, along with his father, bear most of the responsibility for the brutal suppression and the 228 Incident,” Wang said.
Tsai Kun-lin (蔡焜霖), a former political prisoner who is in his 90s, was incarcerated for 10 years in the 1950s on Green Island (綠島).
“However, White Terror against me and other political prisoners did not end when we were released,” he told the conference.
“People feared to be associated with you, and we were treated with disdain and had difficulty attending school, finding jobs and undertaking other social activities,” he said.
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