The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would deeply reflect on the past and has the courage to take on this responsibility, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) today said on social media about the 228 Incident.
It is important to be honest and humble when reflecting on historical events, he said in a social media post.
Standing at a crossroads in history, he said he commemorated the 228 Incident with a heavy heart.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Nationalist Party via CNA
He called for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to forgo politics and listen to the people as history and memories should bring reflections and unity, instead of hatred and confrontation.
It is time to heal and move forward, he said.
Former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) also said in a social media post that she admitted the party bears historical responsibility, and yet the diversity of historical truth should be revealed.
As somebody with relatives who were victims of the White Terror, she said she felt tremendous pain about the harm caused by state violence.
“The tragedy was not a simple confrontation between ‘waishengren’ and ‘benshengren.’ They were both victims. The number of victims represents lives that had been lived and embodies irremediable trauma,” she said.
“Waishengren” (外省人) refers to Chinese mainlanders who emigrated to Taiwan with the KMT in the 1940s and their descendants, while “benshengren” (本省人) refers to early immigrants from China who arrived before Japanese colonization and their descendants.
Society can only move forward when different communities recognize their discrepancy in how they perceive each other and understand the pain each other has suffered, she said.
“History can be forgiven but not forgotten,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said today at a commemoration for the 228 Incident at the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Kaohsiung where victims and their families were commemorated through a moment of silence and placing white flowers.
“Our democratic freedoms are thanks to the efforts of those who came before us and we must continue to persevere and move forward,” Chen said.
“I hope that political leaders across parties will put aside their differences to protect Taiwan’s hard-earned democracy, freedoms and values,” he said.
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