Latest update August 18th, 2019 12:00 AM
228 teaches that the people own the nation: Pres. Office
The 228 Incident is a reminder that the people are the masters of a nation. That's the word from Presidential Spokesperson Alex Huang on Friday. Huang was speaking in response to plans by China's government to mark the 70th anniversary of the controversial events of 1947.
The 228 Incident was a bloody crackdown on protests against the newly arrived Nationalist or Kuomintang government in Taiwan that began on February 28, 1947. It is not known how many people died as a result of the violence, but academics put the figure at somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people.
With the 70th anniversary approaching, Beijing is seeking to cast the incident as part of the Chinese people's struggle for self-determination, in line with its narrative that Taiwan is part of China. But Huang said that commemorations only have value when they recognize that freedom and democracy are the foundations of a nation and that a government must tolerate dissenting viewpoints without resorting to violence. Huang said these were the lessons of the 288 Incident.
Media and internet users in Taiwan have also criticized Beijing for marking the history of the 228 Incident while the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989 remains a taboo in mainland China.
Source: Radio Taiwan International
