Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Officials draw fire over 228 remarks

Taipei Times

Controversial remarks made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration and pro-unification academics about the 228 Massacre reverberated after the nation observed the 67th anniversary of the tragedy on Friday, drawing strong criticism from a broad spectrum of society.

In addition to remarks by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and National Taiwan University professor Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波), the public was also angered by a comment from Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺).

Republic of China map of killing fields in Taiwan during 228 Massacre

Michael Richardson

While 228 Massacre memorial events occurred around the island of Taiwan on February 28 for the sixty-seventh anniversary of the Formosan uprising against the Republic of China occupation government, ROC maps of the killing fields circulated on the internet in the social networks.

For nearly four decades the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang covered up the murder of tens of thousands with a harsh martial law that sent many Taiwanese to their deaths or prison. Now the ROC maps of the carnage can be found on Facebook and various websites.

228 anniversary is window to Taiwan political purgatory under Republic of China

Michael Richardson

Once a year, for a day, the exiled Republic of China acknowledges “serious government abuses” on the February 28 anniversary of the 228 Massacre. There will be a solemn ceremony with bouquets of flowers on the podium. Ma Ying-jeou will vow that such crimes will never again happen. Elderly survivors of the bloody rampage by Kuomintang troops of Chiang Kia-shek will be recognized and given plaques or some souvenir for their suffering. And then, at day’s end, the “political purgatory” as recognized by the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals will once again envelope the island in a “strategic ambiguity” that obscures nationhood itself.

Sean Lien ‘must disclose his relations with Beijing’

Taipei Times

Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), who is scheduled to announce his bid to run in the Taipei mayoral election today, should disclose his relations with Beijing and whether he holds foreign nationality, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.

Lu is among five DPP contenders in the party’s primary for the election, scheduled for November this year, while Lien, one of the sons of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), is seen as the frontrunner among a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopefuls.

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