Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

 
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
Home Editorials of Interest Jerome F. Keating's writings Taiwan Commemorates 2-28 When the KMT Began to Seriously Enforce its One-Party State

Taiwan Commemorates 2-28 When the KMT Began to Seriously Enforce its One-Party State

When WWII ended, Taiwan began to be denuded of everything from rice to steel to anything that could be used in the KMT's losing effort in China. But Taiwan's troubles are clearly marked by 2-28, er-er-ba, when the seething mistreatment boiled over with the striking of a street vendor selling contraband cigarettes and the shooting of an innocent protester. This brought about the upcoming Martial Law and White Terror in which over 30 thousand Taiwanese were killed and/or disappeared and thousands more would be imprisoned.

Under the hypocritical guise of being pro-democracy the KMT subsequently began its one party state that would last for near a half a century. The irony is that Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan were able to achieve democracy within a decade and with no persecution or jailing of individuals in contrast to the allegedly free Taiwan.

Even now, families of those who suffered are finally being allowed to access the files and find out what happened to many of their lost family members. But the current KMT government is charging them hundreds of US dollars just to get their files. Transitional justice has still not been served.


Source: Jerome F. Keating's writings



Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
Reddit! Del.icio.us! Mixx! Google! Live! Facebook! StumbleUpon! Facebook! Twitter!  
 

Newsflash

A majority of respondents in a poll released by Taiwan Thinktank yesterday agreed that the government should slow the pace of signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and postpone next week’s fourth round of high-level cross-strait talks before a higher degree of public consensus is reached.

The survey showed that 62.5 percent of respondents agreed that “the December [5] election results showed that many people in Taiwan still have doubts about an EFCA plan and thus the [President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration should put off signing the deal with China and rather seek consensus within the country.”