Activist who defended Sunflower protesters dies at 76

By Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

Chou Jung-tsung, seated, on April 1 last year accuses police officers of assault for their actions against Executive Yuan protesters.

Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times

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Pro-independence activist Chou Jung-tsung (周榮宗), 76, died from cirrhosis on Saturday, two days before the one-year anniversary of the March 23 Executive Yuan occupation last year.

Chou, a long-term supporter of Taiwanese independence and social movements, participated in the Sunflower movement protests in March and early April last year, in which tens of thousands of protesters laid siege to the Legislative Yuan compound and surrounding streets to voice their opposition to a proposed trade pact with China.

Chou received fractured ribs and an abdominal hemorrhage after then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) ordered officers to remove protesters from the Executive Yuan early on March 24.

At a news conference on March 31 last year, Chou said he was beaten with batons in the compound by police officers and then blasted with a water cannon while he lay on the street.

Aided by human rights groups, Chou filed a private prosecution on charges of attempted murder against Jiang, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former National Police Agency director Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞) and former Taipei Zhongzheng First Police Precinct Chief Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧).

A Facebook post by the pro-independence group Taiwan Referendum Alliance said that Chou learned about his condition after he received medical attention for his injuries.

“When the March 18 [Sunflower] movement erupted, [Chou] defended Taiwan defiantly with his flesh and bones to protect students who were screaming and howling throughout the night,” the post said.

A photograph of Chou sitting on the pavement while being sprayed with water cannons was on display at an open-air photography exhibition outside the Legislative Yuan, which ended last night.

White Terror victim to be honored in NTU memorial

By Wu Po-hsuang  /  Staff reporter

Chen Wen-cheng poses with his family in an undated image.

Photocopied by Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times

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National Taiwan University’s (NTU) university affairs committee yesterday passed a proposal to name a campus plaza in honor of NTU Mathematics Department graduate Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), a well-known victim of the nation’s past authoritarian regime in a move lauded as a step toward transitional justice. The plaza is also to include a monument for Chen.

Born in 1950, Chen went to the US for his doctorate after leaving NTU and worked as an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s department of statistics.

Like many of the young people who went abroad to study at the time, Chen closely followed political developments in Taiwan and participated in US-based Taiwanese student associations and human rights groups.

He returned to Taiwan for a visit in 1981.

A supporter of Taiwan’s democratic movement who had made donations to the pro-democracy Formosa Magazine, Chen was found dead next to the NTU graduate library on July 3, 1981.

He had been taken by the Taiwan Garrison Command for questioning the previous day.

His death remains unsolved.

At the NTU committee meeting yesterday, the proposal was discussed and put to a vote.

With 75 votes in favor and 22 against, the motion passed.

The plaza next to where Chen’s body was found is to be named “Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Plaza.” A monument inscribed with Chen’s story is to be built as well.

NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) said the move is a milestone in the nation’s democratic development.

NTU Graduate Students Association president Sherry Chou (周芷萱) called it the university’s first step to transitional justice, and said that there is a wide consensus that the monument should be erected as soon as possible.

An event held every year on July 3 in memorial of Chen will continue to take place to inspire people to remember the nation’s history, she added.

Likelihood of unification seems ‘increasingly dark’

(Ed. Note: The U.S. 'think tanks' continue to pay credence to backsliding on negotiated agreements with China over the fate of Taiwan preferring laissez-faire capitalism in the American camp. The third alternative, independence, must be a road Taiwan will have to go alone without U.S. support. 

Likelihood of unification seems ‘increasingly dark’

DESTABILIZING FORCE:：American Enterprise Institute co director Thomas Donnelly said that China’s growing capabilities have started to create global uncertainties

By William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in WASHINGTON

Wed, Mar 18, 2015 - Page 3

Taiwan must look “increasingly dark” to China, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) codirector for security studies Thomas Donnelly said.

In a paper published this week by the Hudson Institute, Donnelly said Beijing had been hoping that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be returned to power in next year’s elections and put Taiwan back on a path to “inevitable” unification.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) “has often been an apparently pliant partner,” he said.

However, the prospects for peaceful unification, or even unification by intimidation short of the actual use of military force, are now “not great,” he said.

A former member of the US-China Review Commission and policy group director for the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Armed Services, Donnelly said that Taiwanese reaction to Chinese attempts to suppress democracy in Hong Kong reflects “a rejection of any ‘one country, two systems’ solution.”

Taiwan has no wish to forgo democratic forms of government or the “sotto voce but de facto independence that is the guarantee of that government,” Donnelly said.

“Neither deep trade ties nor Chinese soft power nor an increasingly overwhelming military balance has served to move Taiwan much closer to buckling to Beijing’s desires,” he wrote.

“Taiwan’s political identity, even among the KMT, is no longer simply sinocentric. Like Japan, Taiwan remains a source of tension with China, driven by its own internal dynamic,” he said.

The paper, on US foreign policy in the Pacific, is titled Interest, Fear and Honor.

Donnelly said that the tensions created by China threaten not just the geopolitical and economic interests in the region, but also touch a “changing sense of self-regard — of national honor.”

He said the combination of China’s rising capability and capacity and US operational absence has already created serious strategic and geopolitical uncertainties in Taiwan and elsewhere.

“No one knows what China might do in any given situation, but that’s the point: The loss of US military pre-eminence is a key ingredient in many recipes for mischief,” Donnelly said.

The tensions created by China’s rise may not lead to conflict, but considering the sheer number of potential disputes, “the arithmetic is intimidating,” he said.

Groups march outside Legislature on Sunflower anniversary

Groups march outside Legislature on Sunflower anniversary (update)

2015/03/18 16:58:06

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) Civic groups marched outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei Wednesday on the first anniversary of the beginning of the Sunflower Student Movement, calling for revisions to the country's referendum and election and recall acts to "give power back to the people."

The group of around 370 people, wearing traditional Taiwanese bamboo farmer's hats, marched silently around the outer perimeter of the Legislative Yuan for 90 minutes, circling the premises seven times.

"We are initiating a movement to give the power back to the people. We ask that the Legislature respond to the people's demands and pass amendments to the Referendum Act and Civil Servants Election and Recall Act during the current legislative term," Grace Lin, a National Chengchi University student, read from a joint declaration before the march.

The groups said they are calling for the lowering of the threshold for proposing and passing referendums and recall motions, and the establishment of an electronic system so that proposals and petitions can be done online.

They also expressed hope that the scope of what a national referendum can cover will be expanded to include agreements signed with other countries, according to the declaration.

Taiwan's current referendum act requires the participation of more than half of the country's eligible voters for a referendum to be valid, which is unreasonable and not the case in most democratic countries, Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄), founder of the People Rule Foundation and a former chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, told reporters.

Furthermore, he said, the required number of sponsors for a referendum petition should be reduced from 5 percent to 1.5 percent of the number of eligible voters.

No major issues have been settled by referendum since the act went into effect over a decade ago, which is a great loss for society, Lin said, urging lawmakers to pass amendments to the act during this legislative term.

Two of the leaders of the Sunflower Movement, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), were among the participants who included members from The People Rule Foundation (人民作主教育基金會), Taiwan March (島國前進), Citizen 1985 (公民1985行動聯盟) and Appendectomy Project (割闌尾計畫).

On March 18 last year, the protesters -- mostly college students -- stormed the Legislature in protest over a trade-in-services agreement with China. They occupied its main hall until April 10, leaving only after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) promised that the agreement would not be reviewed before the passage of a draft oversight act for cross-strait agreements. The Legislature has yet to make any progress on the oversight act.

Since the movement last year, the student activists have joined forces with other civic groups and have expanded their demands to include revisions to the referendum and recall acts, which they believe will increase the people's power to supervise lawmakers and government officials and make decisions on the country's major issues.

Pro-independence candidate evokes legacy of Su Beng

By Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

Pro-independence activist Su Beng, right, helps Na Su-phok put on a denim jacket that Su gave him in a symbolic gesture of passing on the torch for systemic reform at a media event in Taipei on Friday at which Na announced his decision to run for a legislative seat in his hometown, Taoyuan’s Taoyuan District.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Student activist Na Su-phok (藍士博) evoked the legacy of prior Taiwanese independence advocates as he announced his intention to enter the legislative race next year.

A doctoral student of Taiwanese history at National Chengchi University, Na has built a decade of experience in grassroots activism, with a strong focus on promoting Taiwanese cultural identity through works of history and literature.

At a news conference in Taipei on Friday, Na, 32, accepted an iconic denim jacket from 97-year-old historian and revolutionary leader Su Beng (史明), who is often described as the godfather of the Taiwanese independence movement.

“Young people are the masters of our society now; nobody talks about the world going backward,” Su said as he draped the denim jacket — similar to his own — over the shoulders of his younger compatriot.

Na also received a rare first edition of Su’s most renowned work, Taiwan’s 400-Year History (台灣人四百年史), initially published in 1962 during the leftist historian’s exile in Japan, where he founded several revolutionary organizations.

The two activists from different generations crossed paths in 2009 when Na launched an oral history project documenting Su’s life.

Over about 18 months, Na led a team of 10 college students in a series of 30 interviews with Su, which culminated with the Oral History of Su Beng (史明口述史), published in 2013.

The three-volume text, which won the Golden Tripod Awards for Publication last year, was instrumental in the production of a documentary on Su’s life — The Revolutionist (革命進行式) — which is in theaters now.

On Friday, Na announced his bid to enter the race in his hometown, Taoyuan’s Taoyuan District (桃園), which would pit him against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環), who clinched a decisive victory in 2012 with 58 percent of the vote.

While currently an independent, Na said he would not rule out “any forms of cooperation” with other like-minded parties, including the Democratic Progressive Party or recently launched smaller parties with progressive agendas.

Na has participated in efforts to ensure that Taiwanese history is included in high-school curricula and founded the Gongsheng Music Festival, an annual event aimed at raising youth awareness of the 228 Incident.

He also played a key role during the Wild Strawberries movement in 2008, in which thousands of students accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration of crushing dissent with police brutality during a visit from a delegation of Chinese officials.

Na said that Taiwan has yet to go through its first complete alternation in power, as the KMT has always held control of the legislature.

He urged opposition parties to join forces to prevent the KMT from retaining a majority.

Independence groups try to burn defaced ROC flag

POLITICAL PERSECUTION:：The protest leader said the rally was held in Jieshou Park because he was arrested there for burning an ROC flag in 2013 and given jail time

By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Tue, Mar 03, 2015 - Page 4

Pro-independence groups yesterday attempted to burn a defaced version of the Republic of China (ROC) flag at a monument nearby the Presidential Office Building, saying the flag was illegitimate.

Led by the Taiwanese National Party (TNP, 台灣民族黨), the protesters said the flag did not represent the citizens of Taiwan, because it displays the emblem of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which they said was a foreign colonial regime which occupied Taiwan by force in the 1940s.

The demonstration activities were led by TNP Chairman Tsua Gim-liong (蔡金龍), and took place at the “Monument to Commemorate Political Persecution Victims during the White Terror era,” which is in Jieshou Park near the Presidential Office Building.

“We do not recognize this KMT ensign flag, and it does not represent Taiwan or its citizens. The ROC is a fraudulent concept fabricated by the KMT. The ROC government with its ROC flag is a criminal hoax imposed on Taiwan by the late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石),” Tsua said.

“Our party urges Taiwanese to reject this so-called ROC flag because it has no legal status, and also to repudiate the illegal KMT regime. The best way is for people to rise up and overthrow the government, because the ROC is not a country, and it is not recognized by the international community,” he said.

Tsua said the protest venue was chosen because he came under political persecution for his public burning of the ROC flag on Oct. 15, 2013, for which he was charged under Article 160 of the Criminal Code.

He was found guilty and given a 40-day prison sentence.

Joining the TNP organizers at the protest were activists and members from the Organization for Taiwan National Declaration, Happy National Connections in Taiwan, and the Nation-Building Forum.

When several participants tried to burn a defaced ROC flag with lighters, several rounds of confrontation ensued as the police closed in to restrain the protesters’ actions, but no arrests were made despite some pushing and scuffling.

Tsua told police officers that the flag was painted with a skull-and-bones on the KMT emblem, and used a paler shade of red than the standard color, and therefore it was not a real ROC flag, and so they were not breaking the law by burning it.

The TNP chairman also declared that since he does not recognize ROC law and the judicial system is controlled by the KMT, he will exercise the “right of resistance” and will not serve his 40-day detention.