Additional Comments by
Cheng-Kuang Chen
regarding the injustices suffered by native Taiwanese people during the last 60 years, and their rights to US constitutional protections
Introduction to Formosa and the Pescadores (Taiwan)
The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese (Ilha) Formosa, meaning "beautiful (island)"), is located in East Asia off the coast of mainland China, southwest of the main islands of Japan but directly west of the end of Japan's Okinawa Islands, and north-northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.
Taiwan, a Paradise Lost!
Beginning October 25th, 1945, Taiwan has been under the military occupation of Republic of China (ROC); a government in exile (as of mid-December 1949), which does not have any legal sovereignty over Taiwan. It has been over 63 years of illegal occupation, yet the world is still misled to believe the current ROC occupation is legitimate. In the early years of its dictatorship, it ensured its power by public massacre and imprisoning over 200,000 people over a period of 40 years -- now known as the 2/28 historical event, or 2/28 massacre. To ensure its power over the Formosan people, ROC falsely educated the Formosan generations and fooled the world of its illegal sovereignty over Taiwan. The time has come to reveal the truth and injustice done to the Formosan people and unveil criminal organization behind this scandalous act!
The last generation of bearers of this awful truth, this hidden knowledge, is at its times end. Many are passing away and many feel the need for the world to know the truth before all the voices disappear. Please help bring the Formosans out of this age of darkness and enlighten the world and the Formosan people to Taiwan's rightful place in the world.
Jan. 6, 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Cheng-Kuang Chen, and I am the organizer of this Press Conference today. I would like to say [Thank you] to all of you in this room. Some of you are the Media reporters and some of you are the Formosan Americans who have come from Taiwan, Canada, and all different parts of the United States.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Chung-Mo Cheng and his two friends Mr.Tsai and Mr. Chao. They came in a group of 4 persons, and flew more than 16 hours from Taiwan, to be with us today.
Let me say again [Thank You!] to all of you.
My personal question is; Are the human rights in Taiwan today for the killers or for their victims?
In the last few months, there have been great concerns expressed by the international society urging the so-called Taiwan Administration under the KMT (which is actually the Republic of China government in exile, the killers) not to violate the Human Rights on the islands.
I simply cannot understand why the people in the world, sometimes even people inside the islands, still do not realize that there are the killers and the victims on the island. There are many ways to look at this, but it amounts to saying that the native people in Taiwan have been going through a living hell for over 60 years, and the world has never tried hard enough to understand the truth of their situation.
Today, I am pointing out these matters point by point, and hopefully the members of the audience, including the Media reporters, may find out the detailed background information later. I believe that if any reporter can write some detailed reportage on these Formosan issues accurately, he or she will no doubt be given the Pulitzer Prize!
The fact is, as explained on our website, in our handouts, and in the court documents in the case of Roger Lin v. USA, that native Taiwanese people are entitled to be carrying some form of US overseas passport. This is because the Senate-ratified San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952 has left Taiwan under the jurisdiction of a US federal agency called the "United States Military Government," or USMG. Taiwan has never been awarded to "China" (either the ROC or the PRC). And yet even up to today the US government continues to ignore the specifications of this Senate-ratified treaty !!!
Please see more background information in our handouts today, and on the internet at http://www.civil-taiwan.org/press.htm
I have a list of items here for your consideration. These are all grouped under the title of "Why do the Formosans have to survive under the following conditions?"
Why do the Formosans have to survive under the following conditions?
1. ROC does not have the sovereignty of Formosa and has merely been exercising the military occupation of the islands as the proxy of the USA for the last 63 years, which is since late October of 1945.
2. What is the Republic of China? Uncle Sam said it is the regime in exile because it lost its sovereign territory. Of course, that territory was all of mainland China and the people thereon.
3. During 1947-1980, the ROC was promoted as FREE CHINA and there were big advertisements about the freedoms enjoyed by the people on the beautiful island of Formosa. Yes, "Formosa" means "beautiful island" in Portuguese! But, the fact is that the Formosans have been surviving under the living hell of the Republic of China administration, which in many ways is comparable to "terrorism."
4. According to the ROC spokesman in 2007, the ROC government in exile killed or jailed over 200,000 people up through the period of the early 1950s. And, the victims' families are estimated at over a million if calculated up to the present day. This is because Formosan families had average of 5 members in the 1940 to 1950 period. The ROC Chinese treated these million bare-handed residents as the semi-political prisoners. These people had to risk (and often "sacrifice") their lives, properties, and even the female chastity of their mothers, wives, and or daughters. It was the living hell for over 40 years in the history of Taiwan.
5. The ROC has never had sovereignty over Formosa and the Pescadores, in other words Taiwan has never been the territory of ROC government in exile, and therefore it is incorrect to say that the native Taiwanese people have the nationality of ROC. But, all Formosans have been forced to identify themselves as having ROC nationality, to avoid speaking their native Formosan languages, to deny their own cultural identity, to abstain from reading the native language Christian Bible written in the Roman alphabet, etc., etc. and then all the males were forcibly drafted as soldiers in the rebel ROC Chinese army and pressed into service for dealing with the civil war against the Chinese Communist Red Army, etc., etc., ! This is truly terrible.
6. In the world today, Taiwan is the only political orphan, and has not been allowed to get rid of the killer, aggressor, and foreign regime in exile that is Republic of China. Thus, in our viewpoint, the world is seriously discriminating against the Formosans, and is protecting the human rights of the killers (i.e. the ROC)! Isn't that right? Please tell me! This is why Roger Lin's group has a case of [Lin v. USA] in the US Court of Appeals, Washington DC. The oral argument will be conducted on Feb. 5th, 2009 in the court. All of you are very welcome to come to the hearing. Roger Lin's group will coordinate with their lawyers to make seat reservations in the hearing room, and I think the media reporters can get in more easily than the general public!
7. In the meantime, I hope you will spend some time to research and understand the truth of the international legal status of Taiwan in the world today. I repeat that Taiwan does not belong to the Republic of China, and never has. Taiwan is an overseas territory under the jurisdiction of the United States. As you know even the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (at the US Navy base) are entitled to certain US constitutional rights, so, Dr. Roger Lin's legal team is also moving ahead with our lawsuit to stress that native Taiwanese people are entitled to numerous constitutional rights as well. Importantly, since native Taiwanese people currently have no internationally recognized nationality, these US constitutional rights would include the "liberty" of the Fifth Amendment, which of course contains the "right to travel" and the right to hold US issued identification documents and travel documents, which means US passports.
Thank you very much.
|