Chinese Nationalist Army Slaughtered native Taiwanese with Dum-dum Bullets and Machine Guns

[VOT]

@yyy

And once again, we come to the paradox of democracy.

When citizens have rights to bear firearms, real democracy begins. Without the firearm rights, the paradox of democracy arises.

[afterspivak]

@VOT

When citizens have right to bear firearms, that is the beginning of true democracy.

I’ve heard this is working out really well in Florida.

Guy

[VOT]

When American citizens give up their rights to bear firearms, Chinese Nationalist Army in Florida would become a possibility.

[Charlie_Jack]

@Cheryl99

How did you know about that US State Dept was aware of the use of dumdum bullets by the Chinese Army?

Is that from news?

Evidence of the State Department’s awareness appears from internal documents–that is, from communications between the U. S. Consulate in Taipei, the U. S. Embassy in Nanjing, and the State Department.

This quote from the journal Foreign Relations of the United States contains a March 1947 message from the U. S. Ambassador to China to the U. S. Secretary of State, quoting a telegram from the U. S. Consulate in Taipei, and recommending that the Consulate refrain from becoming involved the difficulties in Taiwan at that time, especially difficulties involving outlawed ammunition:

The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State

NANKING, March 5, 1947–2 p. m.
[Received March 5–5:05 a. m.]

449. Following telegram No. 30 dated Mar 3, 2 p. m. received from Taipei:

"Doctor owning small private hospital and one other Formosan today on own initiative exhibited conclusive evidence to Consulate of dumdum bullet fired from patrolling military truck into hospital premises yesterday and requested Consulate intercession with authorities to prevent future use of such outlawed ammunition. Please instruct.

While unable to prevent approaches being made, fully realize importance of not involving Consulate with either side in present struggle. For this reason have refused to permit dumdum bullet evidence being held by Consulate pending Embassy’s instructions."

Embassy has informed Blake that it approves his action in refraining from involving Consulate in matter reported in above message as well as request by local committee to use Consulate to disseminate news of Taipei incident (reported Taipei’s 32, Mar 3). Consulate also instructed to continue to refrain from intercession either official or personal in such internal difficulties while reporting any further approaches of this character to Embassy.

STUART

From “Reports on the Situation in Formosa (Taiwan), Particularly Respecting Formosan Dissatisfaction with Administrative Policies of the Chinese Government,” in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Vol. VII, p. 430 (PDF p. 8)

frus.frus1947v07.i0006.pdf

Edited to add: you can see the above document on the State Department website at the link pasted below:

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Far East: ...

This is from a book by the journalist John W. Powell:

Along with two other American newspapermen, Christopher Rand of the New York Herald Tribune and William Gray of Time magazine, I visited Formosa in early March, just as Chiang Kai-shek’s troops were re-establishing control. Men, women, the young and the old were shot without distinction. In some cities the soldiers knocked at private homes and shot whoever opened the door, assuming that they thus “executed” the head of the family. The hospitals were filled and we personally examined the wounds of civilians whose legs and arms were blown off or who had other gaping wounds from dum-dum bullets.

John W. Powell, Formosa, Fact and Fiction, p. 5-6

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735061539858/viewer#page/6/mode/2up

This incident, which appears to be the one communicated from the U. S. Consulate to the U. S. Embassy, above (although I’m not a hundred percent sure it’s the same one), is from a book by George Kerr, who at the time in question was working for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration:

Our work was interrupted by the arrival of a Formosan doctor, with several friends, bringing us a dum-dum bullet. On the previous afternoon this random shot, fired by a passing patrol, had entered the doctor’s office and lodged in a heavy medical volume on the clinic shelf. Would the Consulate please lodge a protest with the proper authorities?

George Kerr, Formosa Betrayed, p. 264

http://homepage.usask.ca/~llr130/taiwanlibrary/kerr/chap12.htm

This brief excerpt is from a Liberty Times article dated February 22 of this year, and I’m guessing it communicates something similar to @VOT’s Apple Daily article (I say “guessing” because I can’t read Chinese):

國史館今舉行「解密，國際檔案的二二八事件」新書會，書中提到美國領事館在該年3月3日即提出報告向在中國南京的美國大使館呈報，開宗明義就說這是「一場無組織又大都無武裝的台灣人民，與中國陸軍部隊支持的陳儀政府間發生的衝突」，陳儀部隊用達姆彈攻擊台灣人民。

228事件 美國檔案：陳儀部隊用達姆彈攻擊台灣人民 - 政治 - 自由時報電子報

[Icon]

The KMT still has a strong grip in education - who wrote the legislation so that a major public university president is selected politically, so to speak? Or the programs that embedded the idea that Taiwanese are backward so they need to be ruled by iron fist by the Chinese?

They also dominate public service. Not only is the exam filtered but also it is very hard for a full Native to acquire significant positions. Most are still selected from pedigree, not qualifications. And as such, that is why we have so much backlash against any green inclined official in any position of power, as such is deemed a traitor who betrayed the confidence given as being allowed to rise within the ranks of government.

In summary, the State is the Party, and so everything that belongs to the State belongs to the Party, hence treating public assets as a personal piggie bank. They wrote the rules Abien followed. Suitcases of untraceable money to «diplomatic allies» or under the table expenses justified with 711 receipts were not the DPP inventions, but conventions stated as SOP for govern business.Not excusing Abien raiding the cookie jar, but compared to others it was peanuts and most of the accusations were SOP.

As to the guns, sigh, take it from someone who did live though civil war. Read the Ask a Korean link I posted. It is the overwhelming social force that throws the dictatorship, not the guns. Right now, Taiwanese people are taught to believe that the 228 massacre as well as the Tiannanmen one were right, as people rebelled and that is what people who stand against the «natural order of things» get as a result. If they do not rebel, they will be safe.

Now they are also taking the «it did not happen» Holocaust denial approach to 228. This aspect is something foreigners can help, but as with the Nanking massacre, do not expect to be any help appreciated. Funny how the same players stand behind those tragedies.

the KMT is actually more dangerous now. The moment they feel they have truly lost their iron grip on Taiwan, they will throw it under the bus. They already feel insulted as not handing the power of China, not just reaping its riches. They already signed a deal to give this place up, and have gotten the payment for it. They already plundered all they could and have a guarantee for letting their revenge run when China takes over. So tell me what is the incentive for the locals to stand up?

It is hard to find the Japanese collaborators among the bodies of the wrongly accused. The aboriginals need self ruling and respect, not being manipulated as tools for an elite that kept them backward for 50 years.

[VOT]

@Icon

the KMT is actually more dangerous now

No one else could have said it more sunccintly than this.

[yyy]

Either the government or the KMT itself had an official inquiry-type thing, in the 90’s iirc. Is the report available online?

[Charlie_Jack]

@yyy

Either the government or the KMT itself had an official inquiry-type thing, in the 90’s iirc. Is the report available online?

I didn’t even know about that, or if I did, I forgot it.

[VOT]

@yyy

Either the government or the KMT itself had an official inquiry-type thing, in the 90’s iirc. Is the report available online?

There is one quasi-official report titled “二二八事件責任歸屬研究報告” (“Research Report of the Responsibility Allocation for 228 Incident” my literal translation) Its first version was released in 2006 (ISBN 957-29362-1-2).

According to the title and my impression, this report does not focus on truth inquiry. It seems that the report committee did not have through access to all classified official documents when they were conducting the resarch.

Chinese online report (My web search did not turn up any pdf version.)

(edited)
English excerpt published in book form.
English excerpt as an attachment of the Chinese book

Japanese excerpt published in book form.

[yyy]

Thanks. Could you check the link for the English version? I get an error when I click on it.

[Charlie_Jack]

It’s sold on this site:

二二八事件責任歸屬研究報告-英文節錄版

Apparently there used to be a free copy beginning at the dead link immediately below, but the report doesn’t seem to be available on that site anymore (as far as I can tell):

http://www.228.org.tw/ResponsibilityReport/eng/01

At the time of the writing of this post, this link leads to an Internet Archive copy of the first part of the report, entitled “Editor’s Note”:

https://web.archive.org/web/20081121190253/http://www.228.org.tw/ResponsibilityReport/eng/01.htm

Just now I was able to get Internet Archive copies of the other parts of the report by clicking the red-lettered links on the left side of the webpage linked immediately above. But I don’t think there’s a guarantee that these documents will continue to be available in the Internet Archive.

[VOT]

link fixed.

[Icon]

Talk show hosts complaining about why the government adds salt on the wound every year are the reason why we need transparency, information, education, and above all, justice and reconciliation.