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Kaohsiung Incident Wikipedia

The Kaohsiung Incident was the result of pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China to commemorate Human Rights Day on December 10, 1979.

It erupted following the police raid of Formosa Magazine, an illegal publication designed to support the end of Kuomintang monopolization of power in Taiwan. The ROC Government Information Office under the leadership of James Soong hoped to chill opposition voices through heavyhanded methods. The protest disintegrated into a brawl as protesters, police and undercover agents collided. Soong addressed the public in a speech condemning the protesters, labelling one of the leaders, Shih Ming-teh, "King of Bandits."

The incident publicized the oppressive tactics of the government in ruling Taiwan and the trial of eight leaders of the protest allowed a team of lawyers to publicly question the practices of torture used by the KMT to extract confessions. Most defense attorneys and defendants were members of the Chinese Comparative Law Society (中國比較法學會), which is now the Taiwan Law Society (台灣法學會).

One of the accused, Lin Yi-hsiung, was routinely tortured by police interrogators. Then, on February 28, 1980, while Lin's wife was discussing his case, Lin's mother and twin 7 year old girls were murdered in his home. The event, known as the "Lin Family Murders," remains unsolved.

Several of the accused later became politicians after completion of their prison terms, while members of the defense team became leaders of the Tangwai (Outside Party) movement and later the Democratic Progressive Party. Members of the defense team included Chen Shui-bian (President of the Republic of China|President of the ROC), Su Tseng-chang (current Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party) and Frank Hsieh (Premier of the Republic of China). Those amongst the accused were Annette Lu (Vice President of the ROC), Shi Ming-teh (Political Leader), and Lin Yi-hsiung (environmental activist and former DPP chairman).

Ironically and as a sign of how much politics in Taiwan has changed, Shi Ming-teh was seriously considered to be the KMT nominee for mayor of Kaohsiung in 2002. Another important leader during the incident, Hsu Hsing-liang, left the DPP in 2000 and ran for ROC presidential election, 2000|presidential election as an independent candidate. Both of them have been very critical of Chen Shui-bian's government. In a sign of how things have not changed, James Soong, who split with the KMT to form the similarly aligned PFP party, was a presidential candidate in 2000 and a vice-presidential candidate in 2004, in both cases on the losing side by only a small margin.

Category:History of Taiwan

ja:高雄事件
zh:美麗島事件

Last Modified:   2005-04-13