A compilation of documents on the Formosa Incident published by Academia Historica has revealed new information about the case of democracy advocate Shih Ming-te (施明德).
Shih, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman, was imprisoned in 1962 for founding the Taiwan Independence League. After his release, he was imprisoned again in 1980 for his involvement in the Formosa Incident, also known as the Kaohsiung Incident, of Dec. 10, 1979.
In Academia Historica’s recent publication on the event, a previously unpublished Investigation Bureau report showed that authorities at the time had devised a plan to catch Shih, who had gone into hiding after the incident.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Unsure of whether Shih was still in Taiwan, the bureau had both local investigators and overseas agents looking for him under two separate programs codenamed “rattlesnake 1” and “rattlesnake 2,” the report showed.
Investigators believed that if Shih was still in Taiwan he would be hiding in the mountains to wait for an opportunity to leave the country, and that he might have undergone surgery to alter his appearance, the report said.
It was later confirmed that Shih had undergone plastic surgery, which was performed by his dentist friend and former Taichung mayor Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹).
Shih’s wife at the time, US political activist Linda Gail Arrigo, had been deported from Taiwan and was staying in Japan, so it was believed that Shih might attempt to flee to Japan to join her, the report said.
He might also try to reach Hong Kong, where his brother had been working as a businessman, the report said.
An agent was sent to Tokyo to connect with Arrigo and Taiwanese activists under the pretext of supporting the Taiwan independence movement, and the bureau pressured Hong Kong authorities to deny Shih entry should he show up there, it said.
Investigators also ramped up their search for Shih domestically, and offered a NT$2.5 million (US$89,670 at the current exchange rate) reward for information leading to his arrest.
One informant in Taipei named Huang Sheng (黃勝) was contacted by someone named Kao Chin-lang (高金郎), who claimed to be Shih’s classmate and said Shih was communicating through members of a local church and was looking for a place to hide in the city, the report said.
However, after Kao hesitated in following up, the lead went cold, it said.
Investigators later asked Huang to hide two other Formosa Incident participants who were on the run — Tsai Yu-chuan (蔡有全) and Lin Hung-hsuan (林弘宣) — and convince them he could get Shih smuggled out of the country, so as to extract information from them on Shih’s whereabouts, it said.
Shih sent a friend, Wu Wen (吳文), to meet with Huang at a restaurant in Taipei on Jan. 7, 1980, to ask Huang for more information on who he had found that could help Shih leave the country.
Police then arrested Wu the following day to extract Shih’s location from him, and then moved in on Shih to arrest him shortly after, the report said.
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