2/28 still echoes in Beijing and Taipei

Source: SCMP (2/28/17)
70 years on, Taiwan’s crushed uprising still echoes in Beijing and Taipei
Mainland China marks ‘228 Incident’ as part of bigger push to underscore one-China policy
By Lawrence Chung

Hundreds of people form the words ‘Do Not Forget 228’ during a sit-in in front of the Liberty Square to commemorate the 228 Incident in Taipei, February 28, 2009. Photo: Reuters

It may be seven decades since the massacre of thousands of Taiwanese by China’s then Kuomintang government but the event is still causing political waves.

Taiwan and the mainland are both holding a series of high-profile activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the “228 Incident” in which KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek sent in troops to suppress an uprising on the island on February 28, ushering in the “White Terror” period.

Beijing has marked the event before but this is the first time it has explicitly sought to present its interpretation of the incident. Analysts say this move dovetails with a wider push by Beijing to shore up the one-China policy.

At least 28,000 people, most of them born on the island, were killed during the suppression of the riots.

The violence erupted two years before KMT forces were defeated by the communists and fled the mainland to set up an interim government in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s pro-independence camp says the massacre stemmed from fierce tensions between people born on the island and those from the mainland.

But in prominent coverage of its commemorations, Beijing has framed the riots as a “just action” by people in Taiwan fighting for their basic rights against a dictatorial KMT, describing the uprising as “part of the Chinese people’s liberation struggle”.

Arthur Ding, director of the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, said Beijing was trying to present the uprising as an attempt by communists on the island to overthrow the KMT dictatorship and unify the country.

“What [the mainland wants] is to reconstruct the historical link between the incident and ‘one China’,” Ding said.

Beijing has considered the self-ruled island as Chinese territory since the end of the civil war in 1949, and has threatened to send troops to retake Taiwan if it declares independence.

Beijing has also criticised Taiwan’s pro-independence forces, including the Democratic Progressive Party, for trying to “hijack” the commemorations to promote their own agenda.

A member of the Taiwanese honour guard takes part in a change of duty ceremony at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen’s government has sought to remove the ‘last vestiges’ of Chiang by banning songs played in memory of the late leader during the opening and closing of the hall. Photo: AP

Ding said Beijing saw the commemorations on Taiwan as a separatist act to distance Taiwan from the mainland.

It has pressured Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP to accept the one-China principle since she took office in May. Tsai has not done so directly, prompting the mainland to suspended communication and major exchanges with the island.

Tsai is expected to address the incident and her government’s response to lingering issues during a speech in Taipei on Tuesday afternoon. Those tensions include divisions on the island over the legacy of Chiang.

Tsai’s government has sought to remove the “last vestiges” of Chiang by banning songs played in memory of the late leader during the opening and closing of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and barring sales of items such as figurines and stationery associated with Chiang.

Many residents maintain that Chiang was responsible for the massacre and should not be honoured in Taiwan.

The strength of that feeling was evident in the northern city of Keelung on the eve of the anniversary when a group of pro-independence activists clashed with police as the activists tried to tear down a bronze statue of Chiang in front of the port city’s main train station.

The KMT has urged the DPP not to use the “removing of Chiang’s vestiges” campaign or ideological struggles to try to shift the public attention from the poor performance of the Tsai government.

Former president Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT said on Monday that his government had repeatedly apologised to the public and the families of the victims killed in the incident.

Ma said it was more important now for all political parties to do all they could to heal the wounds of history.

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