‘HIJACKED MEMORIAL’:China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the 228 Incident was a ‘just action’ against dictatorship and ‘part of the Chinese people’s liberation struggle’
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 23, 2017
By: Reuters, BEIJING
China yesterday described 228 Incident protests as a ploy by Taiwanese independence
A group of overseas Taiwanese yesterday display placards during a news conference in New York City to promote a series of activities marking the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident. Photo: CNA
forces to hijack commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the massacre.
The 228 Incident has become a rallying point for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which favors formal independence for the nation.
Then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops put down rioting sparked on Feb. 27, 1947, by a dispute between tobacco mnonpoly agents and an illegal cigarette vendor in Taipei.
The number “228” refers to the day the slaughter began in earnest.
It led to nationwide protests against the KMT, which two years later took refuge in Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War against the Chinese Communist Party and imposed martial law until 1987. [FULL STORY]