TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan Thursday took the first step in explaining the Feb. 28, 1947, massacre in which thousands of native Taiwanese and mainland Chinese were killed during a military crackdown.
The violent suppression took place a scant 18 months after Taiwan gained independence from the Japanese and has been a stumbling block in the effort to improve relations between native Taiwanese and the Kuomingtang-dominated government transplanted from the mainland over 40 years ago.
'The Feb. 28 incident was not the result of any divisions between the native Taiwanese population and the newly arrived mainlanders,' said presidential political adviser Wang Yu-yun. 'The massacre was the result of faulty government under then chief governmental administrator General Chen Yi.'
Unofficial records of the incident say it was touched off by an attempt by government inspectors to bring in a woman for smuggling cigarettes. A passerby who tried to intervene was shot and killed by police. Residents, already angry about the government of General Chen Yi, began to protest and troops were brought in from the mainland to quell the disturbance.
Thousands were killed but there never has been an official count of the victims of the massacre.
Political activist Dr. Chen Yong-xing, who has led a five-year campaign to demand the government formally address the Feb. 28. massacre, demanded a formal apology and compensation to the families of the victims.
A memorial and designation of Feb. 28 as a national day of remembrance was also on his list of demands.
Civilian organizations across the island have been holding memorial ceremonies for the victims. The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan held a memorial mass earlier, calling for unity among groups of Chinese from the mainland and Taiwan.
Premier Hao Pei-tsun, a former general, attended a memorial service Thursday sponsored by a prominent Buddhist priest. Hao was accompanied by high-ranking members of his Cabinet.
Taiwan took the first step Thursday in explaining the Feb. 28, 1947, massacre in which thousands of native Taiwanese and mainland Chinese were killed during a military crackdown.
The violent suppression took place a scant 18 months after Taiwan gained independence from the Japanese and has been a stumbling block in the effort to improve relations between native Taiwanese and the Kuomingtang-dominated government transplanted from the mainland over 40 years ago.
'The Feb. 28 incident was not the result of any divisions between the native Taiwanese population and the newly arrived mainlanders,' said presidential political adviser Wang Yu-yun. 'The massacre was the result of faulty government under then chief governmental administrator Gen. Chen Yi.'
The massacre took place more than two years before the mainland Chinese under Chang Kai-shek were ousted by the communists in September 1949 and took over Taiwan, which was known as Nationalist China until the 1970s.
Unofficial records of the incident say it was touched off by an attempt by government inspectors to bring in a woman for smuggling cigarettes. A passerby who tried to intervene was shot and killed by police. Residents, already angry about the government of Chen, began to protest and troops were brought in from the mainland to quell the disturbance.
Thousands were killed but there never has been an official count of the victims of the massacre.
Political activist Chen Yong-xing, who has led a 5-year-old campaign to demand the government formally address the Feb. 28. massacre, demanded a formal apology and compensation to the families of the victims.
A memorial and designation of Feb. 28 as a national day of remembrance was also on his list of demands.
Civilian organizations across the island have been holding memorial ceremonies for the victims. The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan held a memorial mass earlier, calling for unity among groups of Chinese from the mainland and Taiwan.
Premier Hao Pei-tsun, a former general, attended a memorial service Thursday sponsored by a prominent Buddhist priest. Hao was accompanied by high-ranking members of his Cabinet.
In mainland China, Taiwanese and communist-allied officials have marked the bitter anniversary this week with study sessions in Beijing and in coastal Fujian province and with calls for official and public reckoning by Taiwan's Nationalist government.
The communist government in Beijing regards the 28 massacre as evidence of the Nationalists' depravity, claiming that 30,000 Taiwanese were killed by the Nationalist army and police.
'Taiwan compatriots on the mainland and the people on Taiwan now demand that the Taiwan authorities redress the case as soon as possible, ' said Cai Zimin of the communist-allied Taiwan Democratic Self- Government League, one of China's nominally independent political parties.
Cai also used the anniversary to reiterate Beijing's policy toward what it regards as a rebel-held province.
Mainland supporters of Taiwan, he said, 'want the Taiwan authorities to stop pursuing the policies of 'two Chinas' and 'one China and one Taiwan.'
The Nationalists also should stop 'appeasing the Taiwan separatists' and 'promote the peaceful reunification of Taiwan and the mainland,' Cai said.
