In this episode of the Talking Taiwan podcast, I continue my conversation with Gerrit van der Wees about the Taiwan Communique, and how it revealed the truth of Taiwan’s White Terror Era. Taiwan Communique is a publication that was started in 1980, during Taiwan’s martial law era, a dark period in Taiwan’s history in which there was extreme censorship and the people of Taiwan were denied their civil liberties. For these reasons Gerrit and his wife Mei-chin felt it was necessary to do something to shed light on the human rights violations that were happening in Taiwan.

It is really remarkable to hear how they gathered all of this sensitive information for the Taiwan Communique under these circumstances and in the pre-Internet era. For over 3 decades the Taiwan Communique was one of the most in-depth English-language resources on Taiwan. So I was really excited about doing this interview with Gerrit because I really wanted to acknowledge the lasting contribution of the Taiwan Communique and to let people know that it still remains available online to this day. It is a tremendous resource for anyone wanting to learn about the challenges Taiwan has faced in going from dictatorship to democracy.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• What precipitated the creation of the Taiwan Communique
• The Human Rights Day rally on the 10^th of December, 1979, which became known as the Kaohsiung incident
• The origins and formation of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
• The election of the first DPP president, Chen Shui-bian
• How the Sunflower movement (2014) was a reaction to President Ma Ying-jeou’s policies on trade with China and its impact on local elections in 2016
• The “Green Wave” of 2014 and 2016
• The Regan administration’s position on Taiwan in 1980
• The “Gang of Four” (senators in U.S. Congress) who were supportive of Taiwan
• How the Taiwan Communique reported on the lack of freedom of press treatment in Taiwan, the prison treatment of opposition leaders and other major developments in Taiwan
• The Taipei Spring of 1991-1992
• How they collected and gathered information for the Taiwan Communique in the pre-Internet era when phone calls costed $10/minute
• How the Taiwan Communique went from a circulation of 40 to thousands and was targeted to key policy makers and news media
• Gerrit’s proudest moment being acknowledged as the editor of the Taiwan Communique
• The strict censorship of publications and postal mail in Taiwan the 1980s
• How Gerrit and his wife Mei-chin got blacklisted by the government in Taiwan
• Gerrit’s current role teaching the history of Taiwan at George Mason University

Related Links:

Taiwan Communique: https://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/

The Kaohsiung incident (1979): https://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1979.htm

The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA): http://fapa.org/wp/

The post Taiwan Communique: Revealing the Truth of Taiwan’s White Terror Era Ep 63 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.

I recently invited Gerrit van der Wees, to share his perspectives on the outcome of the recent 2020 Taiwan presidential election. Gerrit is the former editor of the Taiwan Communique, a publication that was dedicated to the human rights and democracy of Taiwan. He has also worked for FAPA as a senior policy advisor and currently teaches the history of Taiwan at George Mason University. He’s also a former Dutch diplomat.

Gerrit has provided a very concise analysis of how the DPP and Tsai Ing-wen have come back after the disastrous results of the 2018 local elections. He also offered some insight into the reforms that the Tsai administration will now be able to carry out upon re-election and with a DPP majority parliament.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• How the protests in Hong Kong played a role in the outcome of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election
• What led to the poor results for the DPP in the 2018 local election results and how Tsai Ing-wen was able to turn that around and make a comeback
• The unprecedented news coverage of the 2020 presidential election
• The high voter turnout for the 2020 presidential election
• The reforms that Tsai Ing-wen initiated in her first term and will now be able to move forward with, including the transitional justice reform urging investigation into many of the political murders that happened during the martial law period and White Terror era of Taiwan
• Tsai Ing-wen’s economic initiatives and reforms
• China’s carrot and stick approach in dealing with Taiwan
• How Tsai Ing-wen was able to attract businesses in China back to Taiwan

Related Links:

The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA): http://fapa.org/wp/

Taiwan Communique: https://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/

1992 Consensus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Consensus

Washington Post Editorial by George Will: Time is on Taiwan’s side, as long as the U.S. is, too: https://wapo.st/2uxVK3B

228 Incident (1947): https://www.taiwandc.org/228-intr.htm

The Kaohsiung incident (1979): https://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1979.htm

Lin Yi-hsiung murder case (1980): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Yi-hsiung

https://tw.forumosa.com/t/1979-lin-family-murders-a-first-hand-account/50007

Death of Professor Chen Wen-chen at the National Taiwan University (1981): https://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/tc05-int.pdf

The post Outcome of the 2020 Taiwan Presidential Election: Perspectives by Gerrit van der Wees Ep 62 appeared first on Talking Taiwan Podcast.