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White Terror (Taiwan)

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In Taiwan, the White Terror (Chinese: 白色恐怖; pinyin: báisè kǒngbù) was the suppression of political dissidents following the February 28 Incident.[1]

The period of martial law lasted for 38 years and 57 days from 19 May, 1949 to 15 July, 1987.[2] Taiwan's period of martial law had been the longest period of martial law in the world at the time it was lifted, but has since been surpassed by the Syrian half-century martial law, which lasted from 1963 to 2011.[3]

Time period

The term "White Terror" in its broadest meaning refers to the entire period from 1947 to 1987.[4] Around 140,000 Taiwanese were imprisoned during this period, of which about from 3,000–4,000 were executed, for their real or perceived opposition to the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) government led by Chiang Kai-shek.[2] Most actual prosecutions, though, took place in 1950–1952. Most of those prosecuted were labeled by the Kuomintang as "bandit spies" (匪諜), meaning spies for Chinese communists, and punished as such.

The KMT imprisoned mostly Taiwan's intellectual and social elite out of fear that they might resist KMT rule or sympathize with communism.[2] For example, the Formosan League for Reemancipation was a Taiwanese independence group established in 1947 which the KMT believed to be under communist control leading to its members being arrested in 1950. The World United Formosans for Independence was persecuted for similar reasons. However, 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. A large number of the White Terror's other victims were mainland Chinese, many of whom owed their evacuation to Taiwan to the KMT. Often, after having come unaccompanied to Taiwan, these refugees to Taiwan were considered more disposable than local Taiwanese. Many of the mainland Chinese who survived the White Terror in Taiwan, like Bo Yang and Li Ao, moved on to promote Taiwan's democratization and the reform of the Kuomintang. In 1969, future president Lee Teng-hui was detained and interrogated for more than a week by the Taiwan Garrison Command who demanded to know about his "communist activities" and told "killing you at this moment is as easy as crushing an ant to death." Three years later he was invited to join the cabinet of Chiang Ching-kuo.[5]

Fear of discussing the White Terror and the February 28 Incident gradually decreased with the lifting of martial law in 1987, culminating in the establishment of an official public memorial and an apology by President Lee Teng-hui in 1995. In 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou addressed a memorial service for the White Terror in Taipei. Ma apologized to the victims and their family members on behalf of the government, and expressed the hope that Taiwan would never again experience a similar tragedy.[6]

Memorials

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Rubinstein, Murray A. (2007). Taiwan: A New History. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. p. 302. ISBN 9780765614957. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  2. ^ a b c Huang, Tai-lin (20 May 2005). "White Terror exhibit unveils part of the truth". Taipei Times.
  3. ^ Barker, Anne (28 March 2011). "Syria to end 48 years of martial law". ABC/Wire. ABC News. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  4. ^ Chen, Ketty (Winter 2008). "Disciplining Taiwan: The Kuomintang's Methods of Control during the White Terror Era (1947-1987)" (PDF). Taiwan International Studies Quarterly. 4 (4): 187.
  5. ^ Tsai, Shih-shan Henry (2005). Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 101–103. ISBN 9781403970565. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  6. ^ President Ma attends White Terror Memorial China Post July 16, 2006

References

English language
Chinese language
  • 藍博洲，1991，幌馬車之歌。台北：時報文化。
  • 藍博洲，1993，白色恐怖。台北：揚智。
  • 呂芳上計劃主持，1999，戒嚴時期台北地區政治案件相關人士口述歷史：白色恐怖事件查訪（上）。台北：台北市文獻委員會。
  • 任育德，2003，從口述史看1950年代政治案件的女性受刑人，近代中國第154期。
  • 台灣省文獻委員會編，1998，台灣地區戒嚴時期五零年代政治案件史料彙編（一）：中外檔案。南投：台灣省文獻委員會。
  • 魏廷朝，1997，台灣人權報告書，1949-1995。台北：文英堂。
  • 朱德蘭，2001，崔小萍事件，南投：省文獻會。
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