Taiwan Communique: Revealing the Truth of Taiwan’s White Terror Era
I was really excited about doing this Talking Taiwan interview about the Taiwan Communique with Gerrit van der Wees because I wanted to share the story of this publication which he started with his wife Mei-chin in 1980, during Taiwan’s martial law era. It was a dark period in Taiwan’s history, a time of extreme censorship and when the people of Taiwan were denied their civil liberties. Gerrit and Mei-chin felt it was necessary to do something to shed light on the human rights violations that were happening in Taiwan at the time. For over 3 decades (from 1980-2016) the Taiwan Communique reported on human rights violations and Taiwan’s democratization. Today it remains available online (https://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/) as a well documented chronology of Taiwan’s transition 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 10th 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
Listen to my interview with Gerrit van der Wees about the Taiwan Communique by clicking HERE
