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Taiwan's 'political purgatory' leaves bitter reminders of Chinese martial law
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Peaceful Taiwanese protestor CF photo
Taiwanese protestors, no matter how peaceful, become targets of police when criticism of China or the Chinese government in-exile are the topics of protest.
The occupation government of Taiwan, the Republic of China in-exile, ruled the island of Formosa with a harsh martial law for 40 years from 1947 to 1987. The United States Navy brought the Chinese to the island at the close of World War II to process surrendering Japanese soldiers and they never left.
Taiwanese activists seeking independence were harshly dealt with during the martial law period and treated as traitors. The lifting of martial law did finally allow the formation of political parties in opposition to the ruling Kuomintang party of the Nationalist Chinese.
A man having a few words with ROC police CF photo
However, the ROC still enforces a restrictive Assembly and Parade law and clamps down on free speech whenever the topic turns to China.
A protest against the People's Republic of China last year triggered a police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. More recently, during ROC president Ma Ying-jeou's visit to a temple in Tainan, black-shirted ROC security forces attacked students who were chanting anti-Chinese slogans.
Ma stood by while his black-shirts roughed up the peaceful student protesters. The incident was caught on film allowing a glimpse of the repressive ROC tactics used to maintain political control and showing Ma's awareness of the brutality against the students.
ROC uses razor wire for crowd control CF photo
The United States has long ignored ROC repression of the local populace during the military occupation. The Cold War and use of Taiwan as a staging area for clandestine operations by the U.S. government has kept a "strategic ambiguity" over the international legal status of the island since World War II.
U.S. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown has called the situation in Taiwan "political purgatory" and urged President Barack Obama to act. Obama has thus far ignored Judge Brown who issued an opinion last month in the Roger C.S. Lin, et al vs. United States case to enforce terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and permit self-determination of Taiwan in the future.
The upcoming anniversary of Ma's assent to power will be marked by protests already being planned. The recent assault on the students, witnessed and condoned by Ma, may signal trouble ahead for the upcoming protest.
Is martial law returning to Taiwan?
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