UNKNOWNWithout truth there can be no forgiveness, one activist said, calling for government action on transitional justice reforms, rather than empty gestures

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Hundreds of campaigners marched in Taipei yesterday to commemorate the 228 Incident, calling for the

government to officially assign responsibility for the massacre which followed a 1947 protest.

Escalating protests swept Taiwan on Feb. 28, 1947, after Tobacco Monopoly Bureau agents confiscated contraband cigarettes from a woman outside Taipei’s Tianma Tea House (天馬茶房) on Nanjing W Road on Feb. 27. When the woman was hit on the head by an officer holding a gun, the crowd surrounded the agents, who responded by fleeing with one agent shooting into the crowd and killing a bystand
er.
A subsequent bloody crackdown by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime systematically killed many Taiwanese.

Only partial documentation of the events and victims has been recovered, with the government-funded 228 Memorial Foundation officially recognizing more than 2,200 victims    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 28, 2017
By: James Lo

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators backed by scholars called on Monday for the withdrawal

of military guards from former President Chiang Kai-shek’s Cihu Mausoleum as part of the government’s push for transitional justice.

The mausoleum is currently managed by the Taoyuan division of the Ministry of National Defense’s Armed Forces Reserve Command, meaning the ministry must set aside an annual budget for the upkeep of the grounds, DPP lawmaker Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) told the media.

He was backed up by Professor Lee Hsiao-feng (李筱峰) from the National Taipei University of Education, who argued that the Defense Ministry should not only cut the budget for the mausoleum but also remove military guards from the grounds.

It was unreasonable to spend so much money on a dictator after his death, Lee argued, saying that to continue remembering Chiang as though he were a positive figure was an insult to Taiwan’s democracy.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-26

Former President Ma Ying-jeou will set off on February 28 on his second trip to the

United States since leaving office. The 12-day visit will take him to New York, Boston and Washington, where he will meet with academics, Taiwan-friendly members of congress and Taiwanese expatriates.

In New York, Ma will attend a dinner party held by the Asia Society to celebrate the 10th founding anniversary of the society’s Center on US-China Relations.

Ma’s itinerary also includes a visit to Taiwan’s representative office in New York, an interview with CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and a sit-down with law students at New York University.    [FULL  STORY]

Four rescued from tofu factory in Kaohsiung

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/26
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kaohsiung police raided a dried tofu factory and rescued four migrant workers who had been held against their will for up to 14 years and worked 15 hours every day.

An Indonesian woman named Fan told the police that she came to Taiwan to work as a caregiver initially, but when she arrived at the airport, someone sold her to a dried tofu factory where she worked illegally. She said her employer had been keeping her locked inside on the second floor of the factory without any days off for almost 14 years.

Fan accused the employer of keeping her and three other migrant workers’ ID, forcing them to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day with no days off or overtime pay.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/26
By: Liu Shih-yi and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Petrochemical producer LCY Chemical Corp. (李長榮化工), which

was involved in a series of gas explosions that killed 32 people in Kaohsiung in 2014, has lost an administration lawsuit to hold on to three safety management certificates.

In its ruling, the Taipei High Administration Court found that LCY not only failed to include the Factory Management Act among the laws it had its employees follow but also failed to maintain, repair and conduct the necessary safety checks of its underground pipelines that it had acquired 30 years earlier.

That negligence led to the deterioration of its chemical transmission pipelines and eventually caused gas explosions that left 32 deaths and 321 injuries, the court said.

Because of the severe damage cause by the blast, the court ruled against LCY in its suit against an order by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to invalidate the company’s safety certifications.

SEEKING TRUTH:The president announced the release of 4,617 documents, along with plans for a three-year probe into materials relating to the massacre and its aftermath

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2017
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced the declassification of all

historical records relating to the 228 Incident, saying that the measure is critical to establishing the truth and expediting transitional justice.

“Pushing for transitional justice is one of the most important missions for Taiwan’s democracy, but we often have to discern the truth from the mists, with the most crucial yet complicated task being uncovering and collecting the relevant documents, which are scattered across various government agencies,” Tsai said on Facebook.

Tsai’s Facebook post came after the government released a press release touting similar moves, in which it said the speedy declassification of confidential files was aimed at meeting the public’s expectation of transitional justice.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 27, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

A gay rights activist accused President Tsai Ing-wen of backtracking from her support for legalizing gay marriage, saying she told him, “You may not be able to see same-sex marriage in your lifetime.”

Vincent Huang, who participated in a sit-down talk with Tsai at the Presidential Office on Feb. 18, made the claim on Facebook.

According to Huang, he told the president that he feared his elderly mother and his partner’s elderly parents would not be able to see them get married.

Huang said Tsai had replied immediately, “You may not be able to see same-sex marriage in your lifetime.”    [FULL  STORY]

Death toll hits mostly the old

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/25
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As a strong continental cold air mass was approaching Taiwan,

22 people are believed to have died in the cold snap, mostly the ones either aged over 70 or with cardiovascular disease, reports said Saturday.

The youngest victim was a 43-year-old man, and the oldest is 97, according to FTV News.

Changhua’s Shiu-chwan Memorial Hospital (秀傳醫院) Emergency Department Director Huang Bing-wen (黃炳文) advised the elderly with chronic or cardiovascular diseases to stay warm and drink more water on such a cold day.

The cold snap saw temperatures plunge to 10 degrees Celsius Saturday morning in northern Taiwan, 12-13 degrees in Yilan and central Taiwan, and 14-16 degrees in southern and eastern Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a torrential rain warning for Keelung City, New Taipei City, Taipei City, and Yilan County during the 228 holiday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/25
By: Christie Chen and Wang Shu-fen

Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued heavy rain alerts for several areas in northern Taiwan on Saturday, predicting cold and wet weather for the northern part of the country that day as a strong cold air mass from China continues its grip on Taiwan.

The rain alerts were issued for Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung cities and Yilan county, while strong wind alerts were issued for all counties and cities, except for Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi cities and Yilan, Hualien and Nantou counties.

Under the effect of the cold air mass and as rain and clouds from southern China continue to move east toward Taiwan, northern and northeastern Taiwan could experience chilly and wet weather throughout the day, the CWB said, cautioning people in those areas to keep warm.    [FULL  STORY]

MOUTHPIECE:The KMT is different from the former Socialist Party of Germany in that it has its own media outlets to voice its policy stance, Wellington Koo said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 26, 2017
By: Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ties with China and its unwillingness to abandon

its legacy pose challenges to transitional justice, Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.

Speaking in Taipei at an event on transitional justice, Koo said the KMT is much stronger than East Germany’s ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), to which it is often compared in reference to transitional justice.

Saying that the essence of transitional justice is seeking historical facts, reconciliation and justice, Koo expressed dismay at what he called resistance to such efforts in Taiwan, adding that the pursuits are often misinterpreted as political conflict
[FULL  STORY]