On the 72nd anniversary of the 228 Massacre, it should be clear that a long path remains to be walked to realize transitional justice in Taiwan. This is visible in a number of recent incidents...
Anger has broken out after the KMT disrupted a meeting of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee confirming the budget of the Transitional Justice Commission and its plans for the upcoming year. A picture of KMT members knocking over a table and looking as though they intended to attack Yang Tsui, the chair of the commission and a family member of a White Terror victim, subsequently went viral on the Internet, further stoking outrage...
Controversy broke out recently following a PXMart commercial featuring a man who appeared to be murdered political dissident Chen Wen-Chen. Two other White Terror-themed commercials would later be released on the Internet. Although the controversy was more a tempest in a teapot than anything, we might still take a look as to why PXMart would produce a series of White Terror-themed commercials...
On the 71st anniversary of the 228 Massacre, it bears keeping mind that the time from now in which the last surviving individuals that lived through the 228 Massacre will no longer be with us...
Comments by Wang Ping-Chung of the New Party in an op-ed submitted by Wang to a Chinese state-run media outlet, the Global Times, have provoked outrage, due to Wang stating outright in the op-ed that “China cannot wait for unification". Wang, a prominent figure of the New Party, is currently under scrutiny due to charges that he operated a news outlet for China aimed at pro-unification views in Taiwan, with the aim of eventually developing an espionage network for China...
Controversy continues regarding alleged connections between four New Party members briefly detained by police earlier this month to Zhou Hongxu, a Chinese student studying in Taiwan arrested for spying in September. In particular, recent developments are that Wang Ping-chung, a television personality known for his pro-unification views and the best known of the four New Party members, may have been paid by China to develop a media website in Taiwan, with the eventual aim of developing this into an espionage organization...
Accusations by the KMT that the DPP is instituting a “Green Terror” of political persecution against the pan-Blue camp that is equal to or worse than the White Terror perpetrated by the KMT during the authoritarian period are groundless and ridiculous. Such accusations are ultimately a form of historical denial, but they may gain traction due to historical amnesia in "post-fact" times...
The detention and questioning of television personality Wang Ping-chung by police, a member of the deep Blue third party of the New Party, and three other New Party members, Hou Han-ting, Lin Ming-cheng, and Chen Ssu-chun, has led to divided reactions from Taiwanese society...
Recent comments by Hau Lung-Pin, a KMT party heavyweight and a major contender in the upcoming race for party chair, illustrate how the KMT has largely failed to reckon with its authoritarian past...
In January 2017, the Free Taiwan Party posted a Facebook status: “Pro-Independence takes a stand! Come pull down the Chiang Kai Shek statue on February 28th at the Freedom Plaza!” As a young supporter of Free Taiwan Party and a supporter of the action of pulling down authoritarian statues, I documented and witnessed the actions on site during this time...
