The White Terror () was the political repression of Taiwanese civilians and political dissenters under the government ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT). The period 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 The Temporary Provisions had been repealed a year earlier on 22 April 1991. Martial law had been lifted on 15 July 1987.
Two years after the 28 February 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. Others targeted included Taiwanese locals and indigenous peoples who participated in the 28 February incident, such as Uyongʉ Yata'uyungana, and those accused of dissidence for criticizing the government.
The KMT persecuted those who criticized or opposed the government, accusing them of attempting to subvert the regime, while dramatically expanding the scope of punishment throughout this period. 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. Basic human rights and the right to privacy were disregarded, with mass pervasive monitoring of the people, filings of sham criminal cases against anyone suspected of being a dissident, as well as labelling any individuals who did not conform to a pro-regime stance as communist spies, often without merit. Others were labeled as Taiwanese separatists and prosecuted for treason. It is estimated that about 3,000 to 4,000 civilians were executed by the government during the White Terror. The government was also suspected of carrying out extrajudicial killings against exiles in other countries.
Institutional Methods of Repression Along with violence, the Kuomintang government used legal power and social control to maintain power during the White Terror. Under martial law declared in 1949, the KMT used offenses like overthrowing the government or threatening state stability to justify long, harsh prison sentences. Many of these cases were taken to military court, which made it much easier for the government to punish people who opposed the government. The legal action of the regime is shown by the arrests of the Kaohsiung Eight in 1979, who were leaders in a protest sparked by the arrests of 60 citizens involved in the “Formosa Magazine,” which opposed the government. The Kaoshing eight faced trial in military courts and got 12 years to life in prison.
The government also used surveillance and security methods to keep control of the people in Taiwan. The Taiwan Garrison Command also was important for the KMT to identify citizens considered threats to the regime. Laws like the sedition law, repealed in 1992, allowed authorities to arrest suspected political opponents and jail them for at least seven years. These arrests helped the government keep control through fear and prevented dissent.
The KMT also used policies that impacted society in Taiwan to strengthen their regime. Land reform programs that started in 1949 redistributed land and reduced the power of local landowners. These policies helped the state’s authority in rural areas and allowed the KMT to collect rent for profit.
Education was also a tool for the government’s power throughout their reign. School curriculums taught children a pro-government attitude using military training courses, military anthem lessons, and new textbooks. The textbooks promoted Chinese identity and culture. These strategies allowed the KMT to keep control over Taiwan for 50 years, and prevented coup and revolution attempts.
Time period
The White Terror is generally considered to have begun with the declaration of martial law on 19 May 1949. For its ending date, some sources cite the lifting of martial law on 15 July 1987, following the Lieyu Massacre, while others cite the repeal of Article 100 of the Criminal Code on 21 September 1992, which allowed for the persecution of people for "anti-state" activities. Martial law officially lasted for 38 years and 57 days, which was the longest period of martial law in the world at the time it was lifted. It is now the second longest, after Syria's 48-year period of martial law which lasted from 1963 to 2011.
Most prosecutions took place between the first two decades as the KMT wanted to consolidate its rule on the island. Most of those prosecuted were labeled by the Kuomintang (KMT) as "bandit spies", meaning communist spies, and punished as such, often with execution. Chiang Kai-shek once said that he would rather "mistakenly kill 1,000 innocent people than allow one communist to escape".Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. Zhou Enlai: A Political Life. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 38
The KMT mostly imprisoned Taiwan's intellectuals and social elites out of fear that they might resist KMT rule or sympathize with communism and separatism. For example, the Formosan League for Reemancipation was a Taiwanese independence group established in 1947, which the KMT believed to be under communist control, leading to its members being arrested in 1950. The World United Formosans for Independence was persecuted for similar reasons. However, other prosecutions did not have such clear reasoning, such as in 1968, when Bo Yang was imprisoned for his choice of words in translating a Popeye comic strip. A large number of the White Terror's other victims were mainland Chinese, many of whom owed their evacuation to Taiwan to the KMT.
Many mainlander victims of White Terror, such as Bo Yang, Lei Chen, and Li Ao, moved on to promote Taiwan's democratization and the reform of the Kuomintang. In 1969, future president Lee Teng-hui was detained and interrogated for more than a week by the Taiwan Garrison Command, which demanded to know about his "communist activities" and told him "killing you at this moment is as easy as crushing an ant to death." Three years later he was invited to join the cabinet of Chiang Ching-kuo.
Fear of discussing the White Terror and the 28 February Incident gradually decreased with the lifting of martial law after the 1987 Lieyu massacre, culminating in the establishment of an official public memorial and an apology by President Lee Teng-hui in 1995. In 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou addressed a memorial service for the White Terror in Taipei. Ma apologized to the victims and their family members on behalf of the government and expressed the hope that Taiwan would never again experience a similar tragedy.
Controversy In 2009, former Presidential Policy Advisor Hsieh Tsung-min (who, along with Peng Ming-min and Wei Ting-chao, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drafting the "" in 1964 and was falsely imprisoned for 15 years for the 1971 Bank of America bombing in Taipei) and a group of political victims of the White Terror claimed that the martial law order issued by the Taiwan Provincial Garrison Headquarters that year had not been properly reported to Acting President Li Zongren, who then submitted it to the Legislative Yuan for ratification, and was therefore legally invalid. The Kuomintang government violated the personal freedom and property rights of some individuals by using the invalid martial law order, but the Judicial Yuan's Grand Justices refused to accept the constitutional interpretation. They demanded that the Control Yuan impeach the Grand Justices for dereliction of duty.
In 2010, Supervisory Committee member Huang Huangxiong and others submitted an investigation report pointing out that there were three martial law orders between 1948 and 1949. It is impossible to verify whether the second martial law order issued on May 20, 1949, was submitted to the Legislative Yuan for ratification in accordance with Article 3 of the Martial Law Act. If the third martial law order issued on November 22, 1949, was not issued by the President (Acting President Li Zongren was not in the territory of the Republic of China at the time and could not have signed the announcement, which was not in compliance with Article 39 of the Constitution), the formal requirements were incomplete and the legal procedures were flawed. The martial law order was invalid due to lack of formal legal effect, and the military court's jurisdiction was flawed. The property confiscated due to cases during the martial law period "may need to be re-examined", and of course there will be subsequent relief issues. However, the final legal determination of the relevant laws is made by the Judicial Yuan Grand Justices Conference.
Xie Congmin and others were excited about the results of the Control Yuan's investigation. They said that they were imprisoned because they were tried by military court during the martial law period. If the Control Yuan found that the martial law order was flawed, then the trial at that time would be untenable. They would apply to the Grand Justices for constitutional interpretation based on this investigation report, and seek redress and compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
Democratic Progressive Party legislator Guan Biling said that the implementation of martial law without following constitutional procedures was illegal and unlawful. "After the illegal martial law order was implemented, so many people's lives, freedom, and property were deprived and they were tried by military court. What should we do about this? We should carefully consider the national remedial system!" Tsai Tong-jung, a blacklisted legislator, also said: "Taiwanese people are innocent". The implementation of martial law has caused great harm to fellow Taiwanese people at home and abroad. He has been unable to return home for 30 years in the United States. He asked the government to investigate the relevant legal responsibilities and provide compensation.
In 2013, direct relatives of victims of the White Terror (Communist Spy Case) overseas came forward to demand redress and compensation for the ten-year prison sentence, but were rejected by the Republic of China government. The "Compensation Foundation for Unfair Rebellion and Spy Trials during the Martial Law Period" was facing closure on June 30, 2013. The victims and their families in these more than 30 unresolved cases had petitioned President Ma Ying-jeou to request an extension, but their petitions were all forwarded by the Presidential Office to the "Compensation Foundation for Unfair Rebellion and Spy Trials during the Martial Law Period," and thus were left unresolved. In addition, in early 2013, direct relatives of Chinese victims in the United States petitioned Legislator Lin Yu-fang overseas to request assistance for an extension, but Lin's office rejected the request on the grounds that "the organization has been closed and there is nothing else to do." In stark contrast, when more than 30 cases related to the February 28 Incident emerged in 2013 and applications were delayed due to overdue deadlines, DPP legislators immediately proposed to amend the law. As a result, the February 28 Incident Memorial Foundation has now been amended by the Legislative Yuan and its application for compensation has been postponed for another four years.