A memorial in Taipei yesterday honored people killed during the White Terror era and was not to commemorate a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) said on Facebook.
Wu Shi (吳石), a lieutenant general who was the Ministry of National Defense’s deputy chief of the general staff, was executed after being convicted as a CCP spy during the White Terror era.
Wu was accused of providing the CCP with critical intelligence on KMT troop deployments in southeast China, southern China and Taiwan when the KMT government was based in Nanjing, China, Taiwan Human Rights Memory Bank documents showed.
Photo: CNA
Cheng said she was invited to attend the ceremony at Machangding Memorial Park (馬場町紀念公園) in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) — where Wu was executed — by the Political Victims Mutual Aid Association.
The event was to commemorate people killed during the White Terror period, Cheng said, adding that media reports about the event being a commemoration of Wu were misleading.
The invitation she received did not mention Wu, she said.
Photo: CNA
Many people paid the price for their political and ideological beliefs, but Wu is not what we would define as a “political criminal,” she said.
Wu was depicted in promotional material and at the event, while a portrait of him bearing the label “martyred hero” was displayed alongside others in an area where the public could offer flowers and pay their respects.
History should be remembered, so that society can be at peace and people can strive for prosperity, the association said.
A KMT legislator, commenting on condition of anonymity, said it was evident that Cheng had received a version of the invitation that did not mention Wu, with the event appearing to be a White Terror commemoration event.
If what Cheng said is true, she would need to take more care in selecting her staff, the source said, adding: “Her attendance represented the KMT.”
Former KMT lawmaker Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said that the White Terror era was the result of investigations into a list of 1,800 people named by CCP member Tsai Hsiao-chien (蔡孝乾).
While the crimes did not merit the death penalty, the KMT and the CCP were fighting the Chinese Civil War at the time, with the CCP attempting to overthrow the KMT government, Tsai said.
The definition of “political victim” is subjective, Tsai said, adding that to date, he has not witnessed any Chinese leader commemorating KMT political victims.
For head of the KMT to honor “heroes” who were attempting to subvert the KMT government is indeed a masterpiece in reversing the historical position of the KMT, he said, adding sarcastically that the KMT might as well change its name to the “Chinese Nationalist Surrender Party.”
National Chengchi University professor of history Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said that most of the people killed in the White Terror were innocent, but there were a few who had moved with the KMT to Taiwan to act as the CCP’s “eyes and ears.”
Wu was one of those people, Hsueh said.
Commemorating a spy who worked for an enemy government seeking to undermine national security is logically questionable, and the head of the KMT, as one of the major parties, should exercise more care when attending such events lest their actions be seen as the party’s official attitude toward the CCP, he said.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin, Lee Wen-hsin and Fang Wei-li
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