Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

A series of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led recall efforts have come under fire following revelations of widespread forgery in the signature-gathering process. The most staggering case involves 1,923 forged signatures attributed to deceased people. On average, each campaign backed by the KMT contained more than 100 falsified entries — pointing not to isolated errors, but to a coordinated and systemic operation.

Despite the seriousness of the fraud, the KMT has neither apologized nor launched an internal investigation. One KMT legislator even dismissed the issue, remarking: “At most, it’s just forgery — is it really that serious?” That flippant response speaks volumes.

Taiwan on Monday celebrated Freedom of Speech Day. The commemoration is not an international day, and was first established in Tainan by President William Lai (賴清德) in 2012, when he was mayor of that city. The day was elevated to a national holiday in 2016 by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Lai chose April 7, because it marks the anniversary of the death of democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who started Freedom Era Weekly to promote freedom of expression.

Thirty-six years ago, a warrant for Deng’s arrest had been issued after he refused to appear in court to answer charges of insurrection for publishing a proposal for a constitution to replace the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution written in China. He self-immolated in his office while police coming to take him into custody banged on his door.