White Terror (Taiwan)

White Terror (Taiwan)
Part of Chinese Civil War, retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, and Cold War
The Horrifying Inspection by Taiwanese printmaker Huang Rong-can. It describes the hostile environment in Taiwan shortly after the February 28 incident, which marked the start of the White Terror period.
LocationTaiwan and other ROC-controlled islands
Date1947–1987
TargetPolitical dissidents, including leftists, liberals, independence activists, and intellectuals
Attack type
Politicide, mass murder, political repression, police state
DeathsAt least 3,000 to 4,000 executed, not including the 228 incident (18,000 to 28,000 killed) or extrajudicial executions[1]
VictimsAt least 140,000 imprisoned
PerpetratorsGovernment of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the Kuomintang (KMT)
MotiveConsolidate rule over Taiwan after retreat from mainland China
White Terror
Chinese白色恐怖
Literal meaningWhite Terror
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinBáisè Kǒngbù
Wade–GilesPai2-se4 K'ung3-pu4
Southern Min
Hokkien POJPe̍h-sek Khióng-pò͘

The White Terror (Chinese: 白色恐怖; pinyin: Báisè Kǒngbù; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pe̍h-sek Khióng-pò͘) was the political repression of Taiwanese civilians and political dissenters under the government ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT).[2] The period of White Terror is generally considered to have begun when martial law was declared in Taiwan on 19 May 1949, which was enabled by the 1948 Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion, and ended on 21 September 1992 with the repeal of Article 100 of the Criminal Code, allowing for the prosecution of "anti-state" activities. The Temporary Provisions were repealed a year earlier on 22 April 1991. Martial law had been lifted on 15 July 1987.[3][4]

The period of White Terror generally does not include the February 28 incident of 1947, in which the KMT killed at least 18,000 Taiwanese civilians in response to a popular uprising, and also summarily executed many local political and intellectual elites. The two are frequently discussed in tandem as it was the catalyst that motivated the KMT to begin the White Terror.[5][6] Martial law was declared and lifted twice during the February 28 incident.

Two years after the February 28 incident, the KMT retreated from mainland China to Taiwan during the closing stages of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Wanting to consolidate its rule on its remaining territories, the KMT imposed harsh political suppression measures, which included enacting martial law, executing suspected leftists or those they suspected to be sympathetic toward the communists.[7] Others targeted included Taiwanese locals and indigenous peoples who participated in the February 28 incident, such as Uyongʉ Yata'uyungana, and those accused of dissidence for criticizing the government.[8]

The KMT carried out persecutions against those who criticized or opposed the government, accusing them of attempting to subvert the regime, while excessively expanding the scope of punishment throughout this period.[9] It made use of the Taiwan Garrison Command (TGC), a secret police, as well as other intelligence units by enacting special criminal laws as tools for the government to purge dissidents.[10] Basic human rights and the right to privacy were disregarded, with mass pervasive monitoring of the people, filings of sham criminal cases against anyone who were suspected as being a dissident, as well as labelling any individuals who were not conforming a pro-regime stance as being communist spies, often without merit.[11] Others were labeled as Taiwanese separatists and prosecuted for treason.[12] It is estimated that about 3,000 to 4,000 civilians were executed by the government during the White Terror.[1] The government was also suspected of carrying out extrajudicial killings against exiles in other countries.[a]

Pro-democracy demonstrations attempted during this period, such as the Kaohsiung Incident, were harshly suppressed. The KMT ruled as a one-party state, with the existence of real opposition parties strictly outlawed, resulting in non-existent competitive elections. Despite the existence of nominally fair local elections, some unapproved tangwai candidates that won local elections such as Hsu Hsin-liang were spuriously impeached and often forced into exile.[13] These limited elections were also marred by electoral fraud, most notably during the Zhongli incident.

The ruling pattern and repression of Chiang Kai-shek's regime are rooted in its neo-nationalist ideology and theory. Two of the most prominent movements that practiced KMT’s neo-nationalist ideas were the New Life Movement in Mainland China and the Chinese Cultural Renaissance movement in Taiwan. The New Life Movement has been described by some academics and scholars as "Confucian fascism", which imitates certain fascist regimes to increase Chiang's control of the everyday lives of the citizens.[14][15] Another example is the KMT's National Revolutionary Army (later reorganized into the Republic of China Armed Forces in 1947), which was heavily dependent on German military assistance to counter raging communist insurgencies, with its army doctrine inspired by the German military mission during the Sino-German cooperation (1926–1941) until Nazi Germany decided to withdraw in 1938 to align with Imperial Japan.[16][17][18] When Chiang retreated to Taiwan in 1949, his regime suspended the liberal democratic provisions in the ROC constitution indefinitely under the martial law, and ruled Taiwan under a variation of right-wing dictatorship. The legacy of authoritarianism during the White Terror in Taiwan has persisted until today, and political discussions about this topic continue to be highly controversial on the island.[19][relevant?]

  1. ^ a b Huang, Tai-lin (20 May 2005). "White Terror exhibit unveils part of the truth". Taipei Times. p. 2. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  2. ^ Rubinstein, Murray A. (2007). Taiwan: A New History. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. p. 302. ISBN 9780765614957.
  3. ^ "White Terror Period". National Human Rights Museum. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Taiwan: Amendment of Article 100 of the Criminal Code". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 2022-01-08. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  5. ^ 楊碧川. "嘉義的228故事:濫殺槍決,血染機場、火車站". The Reporter (Taiwan). Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  6. ^ Sui, Cindy (13 March 2016). "Taiwan Kuomintang: Revisiting the White Terror years". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  7. ^ Fuchs, Chris (27 February 2017). "30 years after end of martial law, scars from Taiwan's 'White Terror' remain". NBC News. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  8. ^ Chen, Yu-fu; Hetherington, William (30 August 2021). "Aboriginal White Terror period victims remembered – Taipei Times". taipeitimes.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  9. ^ Hale, Erin (10 December 2021). "Book review: Stories from Taiwan's "White Terror"". Nikkei Asia. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  10. ^ Bodenner, Chris (7 December 2016). "Is Taiwan Really a Beacon of Freedom? – The Atlantic". www.theatlantic.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  11. ^ Adams, John (26 February 2017). "Victims demand justice 70 years after Taiwan's bloody 228 Incident massacre | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  12. ^ "肅殺的白色恐怖!寧可錯殺一千也不放過一人 – 歷史". 13 March 2020.
  13. ^ 房慧真. "【中壢事件40周年】許信良:群眾火燒警局時,我在三溫暖睡覺". The Reporter (Taiwan). Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022. 真正的秋後算帳在1979,蔣經國接任總統這一年。年初由余登發父子被捕揭開序幕,許信良主張前往聲援,因為參與「橋頭事件」遊行,許信良被省政府以「擅離職守」罪名移送監察院,6月底,就職縣長1年半的同時,公懲會宣布許信良「休職2年」。只因曠職1天,辛苦拚來的桃園縣長,被迫提早謝幕。
  14. ^ Hartnett, Shaou-Whea Dodge & Keränen 2019, p. 5-6.
  15. ^ Frederic Wakeman (1 June 1997). "A Revisionist View of the Nanjing Decade: Confucian Fascism". The China Quarterly. Vol. 150. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 395–432. JSTOR 655343. Retrieved 7 September 2023 – via JSTOR.
  16. ^ "Fascism in China Today – Ancient Roots and Modern Realities". Alexandria, Virginia: World Future Fund. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  17. ^ Eastman, Lloyd E. (1972). "Fascism in Kuomintang China". The China Quarterly. 49. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0305741000036481. JSTOR 652110. S2CID 154740593. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022 – via JSTOR.
  18. ^ Rummel, R. J. (1991). China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1412806704. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022 – via University of Hawaiʻi.
  19. ^ Morris, James X. (27 February 2019). "The 228 Incident Still Haunts Taiwan". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).