Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said he cares about the 228 Incident and the city government would not avoid the issue of transitional justice, after the Taiwan National Alliance refused to cohost this year’s 228 Incident memorial event with the city government.
The Taipei City Government’s annual 228 Incident memorial event has for several years been co-organized with the Taipei 228 Incident Association and the Taiwan National Alliance.
However, as Chiang Wan-an is a great-grandson of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), the Taiwan National Alliance said that it would not cohost the event this year, as many family members of victims would not accept the mayor at the event.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The alliance said it would hold its own memorial event at Liberty Square (自由廣場) on Feb. 28.
Chiang Wan-an said he has always cared about the 228 Incident, and that he would face the issue calmly and listen to people’s concerns.
“As for the role of the Taipei City Government, we will do our best to listen to different opinions, and will not avoid the issue,” he said, adding that the Department of Cultural Affairs had arranged for him to meet with a few family members of victims last week to listen to their thoughts and wishes.
Chiang Wan-an said that when he was a legislator, he met with many people to discuss issues of transitional justice, and some family members of victims had said it was important to redress judicial wrongdoings and revoke wrongful convictions.
He said he would continue to listen to people’s wishes so that the historical truth and social harmony can be restored.
The 228 Incident refers to protesters being shot by security personnel at the Governor General’s Office in Taipei following an incident in the city on Feb. 27, 1947.
About 18,000 to 28,000 people, many of them members of the intellectual elite, were killed during the subsequent crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, which lasted into early May 1947.
The event also marked the beginning of the White Terror era that saw thousands of people arrested, imprisoned or executed.
In 2006, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) established a truth commission to investigate the 228 Incident, and wrote an investigative report that pointed to Chiang Kai-shek as the main culprit behind the massacre.
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in