| Martial law in Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 戒嚴時期 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Declaration of Martial Law in Taiwan Province | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣省戒嚴令 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Declaration of Martial Law in Taiwan Province 臺灣省戒嚴令 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original title | 臺灣省政府、臺灣省警備總司令部佈告戒字第壹號 |
| Ratified | 19 May 1949 |
| Date effective | 20 May 1949 |
| Repealed | 15 July 1987 |
| Location | Taipei,Taiwan,Republic of China |
| Commissioned by | Taiwan Provincial Government andTaiwan Garrison Command |
| Signatories | Chen Cheng, Chairman and Commander |
| Presidential Order on Lifting of Martial Law in Taiwan 臺灣地區解嚴令 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original title | 總統令 |
| Ratified | 14 July 1987 |
| Date effective | 15 July 1987 |
| Location | Office of the President,Taipei,Republic of China |
| Commissioned by | Government of the Republic of China |
| Signatories | Chiang Ching-kuo,President Yu Kuo-hwa,Premier Cheng Wei-yuan, Minister ofNational Defense |
| Part ofa series on |
| White Terror in Taiwan |
|---|
 |
Martial law in Taiwan (Chinese:戒嚴時期;pinyin:Jièyán Shíqí;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Kài-giâm sî-kî) refers to the periods in thehistory of Taiwan afterWorld War II, during control by theRepublic of China Armed Forces of theKuomintang-led regime. The term is specifically used to refer to the over 38-year-long consecutivemartial law period between 20 May 1949 and 14 July 1987, which was qualified as "the longest imposition of martial law by a regime anywhere in the world"[1] at that time (having since been surpassed byBrunei[2]).
With the outbreak ofChinese Civil War, the "Declaration of Martial Law in Taiwan Province" (臺灣省戒嚴令;Táiwān Shěng Jièyán Lìng;Tâi-oân-séng Kài-giâm Lēng) was enacted byChen Cheng, who served as the chairman ofTaiwan Provincial Government and commander ofTaiwan Garrison Command, on 19 May 1949. This order was effective within the territory ofTaiwan Province (includingIsland of Taiwan andPenghu).[3] The provincial martial law order was then superseded by an amendment of the "Declaration of Nationwide Martial Law", which was enacted by thecentral government after the amendment received a retroactive consent by theLegislative Yuan on 14 March 1950. Martial law inTaiwan Area (including Island of Taiwan, Penghu) was lifted by aPresidential order promulgated by PresidentChiang Ching-kuo on 15 July 1987.[4]
The history of martial law of theRepublic of China (ROC) can be dated back to the final year of theQing dynasty. The outline of a 1908 draft constitution—modeled onJapan'sMeiji Constitution—included provisions for martial law.[5] TheProvisional Government of the Republic of China promulgated theProvisional Constitution in March 1911, which authorized thePresident to declare martial law in times of emergency. TheMartial Law Declaration Act (Chinese:戒嚴法;pinyin:Jièyánfǎ;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Kài-giâm-hoat) was issued by theNationalist Government later in the 1920s and amended in the 1940s. After thesurrender of Japan in August 1945, theRepublic of China occupiedTaiwan on behalf of theAllies.Martial law was declared twice in Taiwan in 1947, due to theFebruary 28 incident.
At the same time, theChinese Civil War was also raging in theRepublic of China. In April 1948, the newly electedNational Assembly passed theTemporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion as a constitutional amendment. This became the factual legal basis for the martial law in effect between 1948 and 1987.[6]
The situation became worse in later months. In September 1949,Chen Cheng then submitted a request toPremierYan Xishan, proposing to amend the secondDeclaration of Nationwide Martial Law to addHainan and Taiwan into theWar Zone. However, the ActingPresidentLi Zongren then fled toHong Kong in November 1949 and did not ratify the amendment.
The outcome of theChinese Civil War forced the Kuomintang-ledGovernment of the Republic of Chinato retreat to Taiwan on 7 December 1949. On 14 March 1950, the restored session of theLegislative Yuan subsequently endorsed the secondDeclaration of Nationwide Martial Law along with the amendment proposed byExecutive Yuan Premier Yan Xishan to add Hainan and Taiwan into theWar Zone. This makes theDeclaration of Nationwide Martial Law supersede the provincial martial law declaration. The situation remained unchanged until the1987 Lieyu Massacre.[8]
The procedure of the ratification of the martial law declarations was significantly flawed as found by an investigation conducted by theControl Yuan.[9][10]
In December 1949, theKuomintang-ledgovernment of the Republic of Chinaretreated to Taiwan. The ROC continued to claim sovereignty over all "China", which the ROC defines to includemainland China, Taiwan,Outer Mongolia and other areas while theCommunist People's Republic ofChina claimed to be the only China and that the ROC no longer existed. Thus, the two regimes entered a new era of confrontation and the martial law became one of the most important laws to "suppress Communist and Taiwan Independent activities in Taiwan", issuing the emergency declaration.[citation needed]
Also in the year 1949, a series of relevant regulations were promulgated by ROC government, including theRegulations to prevent unlawful assembly, association, procession, petition, strike under martial law, theMeasures to regulate newspapers, magazines and book publication under the martial law and theRegulations for the punishment of rebellions.[citation needed]
Under the martial law, the formation of new political parties was prohibited except theKuomintang (KMT), theChinese Youth Party and theChina Democratic Socialist Party. In order to implement the strict political censorship, thelianzuo or collective responsibility system was adopted among the civil servants from 9 July 1949 and soon spread to all the enterprises and institutions, according to which no one would be employed without a guarantor.[citation needed]
The government was authorized by the martial law todeny the right of assembly, free speech and publication inTaiwanese Hokkien. Newspapers were asked to run propaganda articles or make last-minute editorial changes to suit the government's needs. At the beginning of the martial law era, "newspapers could not exceed six pages. The number was increased to eight pages in 1958, 10 in 1967 and 12 in 1974. There were only 31 newspapers, 15 of which were owned by either the KMT, the government or the military."[11]
Taiwan Garrison Command had sweeping powers, including the right to arrest anyone voicing criticism of government policy and to screen publications prior to distribution. According to a recent[when?] report by the Executive Yuan of Taiwan, around 140,000 Taiwanese were arrested, tortured, imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived opposition to the KMT and 3000–4000 people were executed during the martial law period. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite an entire generation of political and social leaders was decimated.[citation needed]
Enforcement was slowly relaxed afterChiang Kai-shek's death in 1975, but continued until the exposure of theDonggang Incident by international media reportage and the follow-up Parliament questioning by newly electedDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) members in June 1987. The lifting of martial law was proclaimed by PresidentChiang Ching-kuo on 14 July, followed by the liberalization and democratization of Taiwan.[12][13] Before that, the Democratic Progressive Party was illegally established in September 1986 and won 22.2% of the vote in theLegislative Yuan election and 18.9% of the vote in the National Assembly that year.[14][15][16]
Lifting of martial law permitted opposition political parties to be formed legally for the first time, giving Taiwan's fragmented but increasingly vocal opposition a new chance to organize. But even after the law was lifted, tight restrictions on freedom of assembly, speech and the press remained in place, having been written into a National Security Law, which had been passed a few days before the lifting of martial law.[17]
All declarations of martial law based on theTemporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion were lifted when the Temporary Provisions were repealed on 1 May 1991. However, theMinistry of National Defense then issued a temporary declaration of martial law effective in the frontier region includingFukien Province (Kinmen andMatsu) andSouth China Sea Islands (Tungsha, andTaiping Island inNansha). This temporary martial law was formally lifted on 7 November 1992, marking a turn to constitutional democracy for the entireFree area of the Republic of China, though the statutory restriction on civilians' traveling toKinmen orMatsu remained effective until 13 May 1994.[18]
In 1998, a law was passed to create the "Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts" which oversaw compensation to White Terror victims and families.[19][20] From 1998 to 2014, the foundation received 10,065 files. 1,940 were rejected for not relating to victims of the White Terror, as were 96 others under article 8 of the 1998 Compensation Act, whilst 7,965 applications were accepted, and 20,340 people were compensated.[citation needed]
In 2007, theExecutive Yuan designated 15 July as "Commemoration Day of the Lifting of Martial Law".[21] PresidentMa Ying-jeou made an official apology in 2008, expressing hope that there would never be a tragedy similar to White Terror.[22]
More important, in the immediate aftermath of therebellion, the government imposed emergency rule, which remains in force to the present.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
