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Transitional Justice in Taiwan: A belated
reckoning with the systematic mistreat
(Chinese)
Ignoring persecutions in today, but to focus on transitional justice 70 years ago,
is a phony political show and a crime.
njustsecurity.org,
Focus Taiwan, Taipei Times, etc, 2022-5-13:
an international human rights
experts panel conducted a five-day review from May 9-13 in Taipei of the
country's implementation of two United Nations' human rights-related covenants,
namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The panel's report highlighted the absence of legislation to curb torture and discrimination in Taiwan.
“The information provided by the government clearly shows that there are many allegations of torture against law enforcement officials in Taiwan,” the report said, adding that those cases only led to disciplinary action instead of criminal prosecution.
The nation has
yet to make incorporate torture — the crime of inflicting severe mental or
physical pain or suffering on a powerless person for a particular purpose as
defined in international law — into its Criminal Code;
The Concluding
Observations and Recommendations of the
international review committee underlined the importance of Taiwan completing
its process of incorporating key norms into its domestic law, by adding the
three conventions – the Convention Against Torture, the Convention on Enforced Disappearances,
etc. The committee also
reiterated the need to explicitly prohibit torture in Taiwan’s criminal code. |
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human rights abuse
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ncovenantswatch.org.tw/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2017-ICCPR-ICESCR-CORs_EN.pdf Review of the Second Reports of the Government of Taiwan on the Implementation of the International Human Rights Covenants Concluding Observations and Recommendations adopted by the International Review Committee Taipei, 20 January 2017: Committee wishes to encourage the Government of Taiwan to accelerate the efforts to accept core human rights treaties: the Convention against Torture - prohibition of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. |
nReuters, 2024-7-12: Taiwan to withdraw honour guards from Chiang Kai-shek memorial. Transitional Justice Commission that is in charge of investigating cases of political persecution that took place during the "white terror" campaign against dissent of Chiang's rule. reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-withdraw-honour-guards-chiang-kai-shek-memorial-2024-07-12/ nSCMP (South China Morning Post), 2024-7-15: Despite accusations of persecuting thousands of opponents during the "white terror" period from the 1950s to the 1970s, Chiang is still remembered by many members of the military as the spiritual leader of Taiwan's armed forces. Mainland sentiment towards Chiang - once reviled by Beijing as an enemy of the Communist Party - has also softened significantly, as he is increasingly seen as part of the historic link between the mainland and Taiwan. one of the missions of Lai's civilian defence minister, former security chief Wellington Koo, is to counter this military resistance. msn.com/en-xl/news/other/taiwan-holds-last-chiang-kai-shek-honour-guard-as-william-lai-leads-moves-to-erase-legacy/ar-BB1q0IcY?ocid=BingNewsVerp nAl Jezeera, 2024-7-12: Generally lauded in life as an anti-communist hero, many in modern Taiwan revile him as a despot who imprisoned and killed thousands of opponents during his rule. aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/12/taiwan-to-stop-worshipping-authoritarianism-at-chiang-kai-shek-statue nForeign Policy Research Institute, 2017-2-27: Taiwanese have to decide their own fate and Taiwanese have to build a new world of fairness and justice ...Recent events notwithstanding, Taiwan still has room for growth in addressing its past ...Taiwan has not done enough to name “who the perpetrators were,” blaming “Taiwanese forgiving nature” for not holding them responsible. nUnited Daily (聯合報), 2024-7-15 : After declassifying the political archive, the government fails to find criminal records of Taiwan's leaders in White Terror era. (政府不斷強調要開放檔案,才能真正暴露當年威權統治的不義,然而開放檔案之後,卻始終不曾出現石破天驚、證明當年執政者偷偷犯下外界不知的彌天大罪的紀錄;不斷被外界抨擊的幾個「大案」,更是從來沒查出過一點進度)udn.com/news/story/11091/8095639?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 nThe Diplomat, 2019-2-27: They protested the authoritarian system in general, established by the Chinese Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), whose vestiges still linger in public institutions, saying it still lies behind the structure of Taiwan’s political society. How soon will transitional justice be rolled out? nNBC News, 2017-2-27: The fear of political persecution always loomed large. “This is something I want to pass on to my children — to speak up, fight for what's right for ourselves and people different from us. Democracy is something that should not be taken for granted.” nWikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/臺灣白色恐怖時期) : White Terror period in Taiwan refers to the period from May 20, 1949 to May 18, 1992. The government of the Republic of China, which is governed by the Chinese Kuomintang, used public power to persecute dissidents and create a political atmosphere of terror that benefits itself. (中華民國政府藉由公權力迫害持不同政見者,塑造對己有利之恐怖政治氛圍之時期。) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan): other prosecutions did not have such clear reasoning; in 1968 Bo Yang was imprisoned for his choice of words in translating a Popeye comic strip nCTS news (Taiwan), 2021-10-31 : After End of Martial Law, Taiwan's democratic elected president(s) (from 1996 till present) still monitor nationals news.cts.com.tw/cts/general/202110/202110242060026.html
nLiberty Times, editorial, 2022-1-25 : The Formosa Incident (美麗島事件), the Zhongli Incident, the murder case of Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) mother and twin daughters, the death of Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), the murder of US citizen Henry Liu —— the Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988) government's iron fist aimed for maintaining its own ruling status as first priority. Chiang was undoubtedly the leader in creating White Terror.
nLiberty Times,
2023-1-19:
Tsai Ing-wen feels alienated from transitional
justice from the very beginning - her initial gesture - " haven't
everyone chosen obedience in those authoritarian days ? " The
authoritarian heirs resist transitional justice by using the excuse - no
tearing apart the ethnic groups, however, so called "solidarity" is not
the truth, their real motivation is defend the authoritarian
bastion and their niche - such as judiciary
... Same as previous Taiwan
presidents Lee Teng-hui,
Chen Shui-bian,
Ma Ying-Jeou, Tsai Ing-wen fails to make
it !
talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1563428 nUnited Daily, editorial (udn.com/news/story/11091/6060260?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub11091_pulldownmenu_v2), 2022-1-25 : Some transitional justices are full of dirty political exchanges and offensive&defensive battles —— the disclosure of "students movement under surveillance" by DPP faction was used to eliminate some candidates in the primary election... More people suffered fear from invisible and delicate social control and threats by DPP government' flank and judiciary (prosecutor, police) ...
nChina
times, editorial, 2021-11-24 :The
ruling party made laws
inconsistent with constitutional principles, reckons property of the
Kuomintang and the so-called affiliated organizations, and concocts fake and
inferior "transitional justice"(民進黨貪求永續執政,制訂不符憲政原則的法律,清算國民黨及所謂附隨組織財產,
炮製假冒偽劣的「轉型正義」chinatimes.com/opinion/20211124005183-262101?chdtv
)
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♣ comment Tsai Ing-wen , Taiwan president - No.1 on Bing, Yahoo, Ecosia (2023-1-11) |
After Taiwanese president declared in the
presidential campaign 2016 (storm.mg/article/1904433?page=1)
and the National Day Declaration in 2021 that her main political opinions on
human rights persecution ─ the whole transitional justice project has been
just spinning its wheels
─ Till
now, the Transitional
Justice committee only surfaced some dusty, "surveillance" cases, on which many victimizers'(perpetrators') names
are erased or covered.
Taiwan's government avoids the most important part
─ "Persecution" cases.
Taiwan ~
♣ (1) Exposes
some
informants and low-end tools, while ignoring the prime suspects ̥
For details please ref.
to Liberty Times, 2021-10-22, editorial
talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1479952
̥
◊
♣ (2) Exposes cases in early days, instead of today's ̥
It's too narrow
─ only work on acts quashing any perceived forms of dissent in society
during Chiang Kai-shek'(蔣介石) regime or before
Cold War era. The right targets should be all political persecutions, and
abuses of human rights.
World Journal, USA, 2020-12-6
(the largest
Chinese-language newspaper in the United States) reported: The
persecutions and infringement of human rights by people in power occur anytime
and anywhere, and are occurring in today's Taiwan ... ̥ For those
early-days cases, the prime suspects might died, the evidence might be lost
─
New York Times,
2016-2-4 :
"Academics say
that little is
known about the
mechanics of
repression
(
occurred
during white
terror )
......researchers
believe many
records were
destroyed, they
also believe
others have been
kept from
surfacing
through willful
neglect.".
The China Times, 2021-11-6, editorial: DPP party (the ruling party)
is accused of hiding historical evidence, said
Shih Ming-Te (施明德)
who revealed DPP's major politicians
Kang Pêng-kian
(江鵬堅)
and former premier 謝長廷 were KMT's
undecover informants.
By contrast, all or most of today's victimizers(perpetrators) , high-ranking officials are still alive ,
and are much easier to get caught red-handed because their crimes are ongoing
all the time. If you don't do the right thing in
time, you
might be 'accomplice', at least, and the transitional justice becomes a phony show.
◊
♣ (3) Focusing on "KMT vs. DPP", instead of "victimizers(perpetrators) vs.
victims."
The motivation should
not be electoral interest. This
should not be a political struggle
between political parties in the name of transitional justice. (former vice chair of Transitional Justice
Committee, 張天欽, compared his Committee
with 'secret police' ('東廠'). The chair 黃煌雄 then resigned and
reminded the Committee should not be any
particular party's hit man or tool chinatimes.com/opinion/20211105003929-262101?chdtv ) Many victims had nothing to do with
politics. The uppers in crime and their organization(s) are familiar with and use the laws to torture the victims, repeatedly
and black-heartedly, some of them are more serious than ordinary criminals or metal-disease
criminals, hence deserve a black site on the land due process forgot.̥
◊
♣ (4) Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen declared that the focus is exposure
of the crimes, not on
accountability ̥
If the justice set political criminals free, persecutions will continue endlessly. Is president Tsai willing to experience any horrible persecutions, for even one day ? Is Tsai entitled to pardon victimizer's crimes for the victims? Heavy punishment is the best preventative mechanisms.
♣ (5) Exposes only some "surveillance" cases,
instead of
"persecution" cases ̥
Compared with
"persecution", "surveillance" is less horrific crime.
Note that the current government
did similar things ─ keeps watching nationals very
closely, therefore might lost its stance on investigating or handling those cases
occurred
in early days. According to the China Times, 2021-10-25, editorial, the government watches people criticizing the government,
and pig farmers intending to join a protest against importing
poison
(Ractopamine) porks.
(Chinatimes.
com/opinion/20211025004212-262101?chdtv) Next TV news, 2020-3-10 :
president of
Taiwanese Nurse Union (護理師工會):
every time the nurses complained about short supply of face masks on the
internet, "the
online army showed up", etc.
Reuters,
2022-1-27:
Taiwan president expressed "empathy"
for Ukraine's situation;
But Tsai appeared not to express "empathy"
for victims in Taiwan.
Therefore, the correct priority should be:
(1) Firstly, today's major persecutions (2) Secondly, major persecutions in
early years (3) Third, other minor cases
Today's first
Today's serious persecutions cause immediate harms, the longer it lasts, the heavier the harm ̥ The gov.'s “turning a blind eye” is a criminal offense in itself. Nowadays' prime suspects are timid to turn themselves to the court, the government is timid to arrest them. Taiwan's president is suspected not to realize her commitments declared in presidential election campaign.
While working on mass atrocities during Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) regime long years ago, transitional justice might becomes a hard work to get no hard proofs.
Today's major cases first
Among all persecutions in recent years, Taiwan should prioritize cracking down the cases : (1) mobilizing or inciting as many as nationals to persecute the victims (2) highest-level officials are engaged (3) recidivists (criminal repeat offenses) (4) all or most suspects are still alive (5) high-tech weapons employed
The case in this website crosses 4+ successive presidents since about 1991 in Taiwan, and has ranked No.1 on the net in the US (Bing, Google, Yahoo), Russia (Yandex), on Japan's and Taiwan's Yahoo , and European internet engines (Germany , Swiss, Holland, Czech, France, UK, Sweden, etc).
Solving the case could scare other evil politicians, and avoid same mistakes occurred in the next 50 ~ 100 years; This is a good case for international study.
Irish Times, 2022-8-9:
nobody would expect a victim of rape to sit with their rapist without a
process of restorative justice, how can there be reconciliation without
some form of retribution |
CTS news (華視), 2021-10-31, 2021-10-24: "誰是加害者 (who are the perpetrators) ?? |
||
"news.cts.com.tw/cts/general/202110/202110242060026.html
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FTV (民視), 2022-5-29 Taiwan History | |||||||||||
Seeing KMT's 228 political incident and so many corruption cases, Taiwanese intellectuals who inclined to socialism and were sympathetic◊to farmers and labor-workers started to join the Chinese Communist Party; within 2 years, the power of trade union or labor union supported by the Chinese Communist Party were everywhere in Taiwan.
However, part of prisoners were not involved in communist party's activity, they are innocent.. People being mistreated have full rights to punish persecutors to the full extent of the law.
So called "White Terror" started from 1947 or 1949. |
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Obviously, "White
Terror" returns to today's Taiwan, with more powerful
high-tech weapons. "Is it progress if a
cannibal uses knife and fork?" /
Stanisław Jerzy
Lec
Zola Zu's works under the theme of human rights abuses and persecution | ||
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exhibited
in
Israel
1999
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exhibited in Turkey, Europe 1997
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exhibited in Czech, E.U. 1997
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★ political theatrics ★ circus showbiz ★
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part of
Zola Zu's article and cartoon |
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No.1 "Taiwan human rights abuse" on AOL, 2023-2-28, 2023-1-11, 2022-9-12, 2022-7-26, 2022-6-17, 2022-5-17, 2022-3-21, 2022-2-28, 2022-2-14, 2022-2-11, 2022-2-5, 2022-2-2, 2022-2-1, 2022-1-30 No.1 "human rights abuse in Taiwan"("台灣人權迫害") on Excite, 2023-1-11, 2022-10-10, 2022-9-12
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★ United Daily news (聯合報) editorial, 08-26-2019 : Taiwan president Tsai I. W. intentionally left out transitional Justice in her 4-years performance list, hence we can know she did a lousy job in that issue. ps: 聯合報社論 2019-05-24 /尋找蔡英文政績中遺失的「關鍵字」https://udn.com/news/story/7338/3831176
★
Liberty Times 2-28-2020, editorial: Taiwan (Tsai)
government is far behind from
its
transitional Justice schedule. ★ Apple Daily, Editorial opinion, 9-24-2018: Avoid 'transitional' injustice or unjustice...★ Liberty Times, 12-14-2018 "the unforgivable crime of national terrorism / state violence": The task of state apparatus is to protect citizens, not to tramp them ... Taiwan currently can't get rid of authoritarian, transitional justice has a long rugged way to go (brief) by 中正大學林泰和教授
★
United Daily, Focus edition, 9-27-2018:
People's trust in
the
Transitional Justice Commission was
damaged seriously, the gov. should treat political persecutors,
pan Green or pan Blue, indifferently
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human rights in Taiwan |
♣《the Universal Declaration of Human Rights》 includes an express right to privacy. ── No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. ♣ The US Supreme Court has recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right. ♣ Justice Brandeis: “the right to be let alone [is] the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men.” Article《The Right to Privacy》 defines privacy as the “right of the individual to be let alone".
nApple
Daily
(蘋果日報,
2014-8-18)
editorial: Privacy
is the
fundamental of
democracy,
freedom and human rights;
We urge
to face the issue of
Taiwanese people being
wiretapped and monitored.
(brief)
So many years have passed,
things are from bad to worse. Taiwanese people have been
mentally controlled.
|
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/臺灣白色恐怖時期 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan) fpri.org/article/2017/02/taiwans-white-terror-remembering-228-incident/
nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/30-years-after-end-martial-law-scars-taiwan-s-white-n725251 thediplomat.com/2019/02/the-228-incident-still-haunts-taiwan/