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World United Formosans for Independence | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 臺灣獨立建國聯盟 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 台湾独立建国联盟 | ||||||||||
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The World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) is an organization promoting Taiwan independence. It was established in 1970 by like-minded organizations in Canada,the U.S.,Japan,Europe,and Taiwan. Its aim is to establish a Republic of Taiwan.
Pro-independence activist Ng Chiau-tong,who served as the Chairman of the WUFI from 1995 until 2011,died in office from complications of surgery on 17 November 2011. [1]
On 28 February 1947,the 228 Massacre took place in Taiwan. Within 3 years of the incident Taiwanese oversea exiles Thomas Liao and Chen Chih-hsiung established the Taiwan Democratic Independence Party in Japan,and later led the Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government .
In 1950,some Taiwanese left Formosa organized and published “Taiwanese Youth monthly”started to organize young Taiwanese independence activists. The reasons were not all political. The Nationalist Chinese had a land reform to buy excess land not tilled by the landowners and sold them to farmers at zero interest. Those who received stock certificates in compensation were not pleased with the exchange. Banning the use of Japanese in public also caused inconvenience to many Taiwanese who were educated in Japanese under colonial rule. The Japanese officials were mostly honest following a more rigid standards.
In 1954,Taiwanese American students (Jay Loo,John Lin,Edward Chen,Ton-ket Young) organized 3F (Free Formosa for Formosans) in Philadelphia. In a few years 3F was reorganized as UFI (United Formosans for Independence).
In 1964,National Taiwan University Political Science Department professor Peng Ming-min and two students (Hsieh Tsung-min and Wei ting-chao ) in Taiwan's highly controlled society,secretly established a Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation . (Also known as Taiwan's declaration of independence) Though,it was not successful and all three were arrested. They often challenged the National Chinese Government legitimacy which moved from China to escape communists.
In 1965,the KMT eventually forced Thomas Liao and the leaders of the Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government to surrender to the KMT after they tortured and imprisoned his family in Taiwan. The overseas Taiwanese movement was not affected by his surrender. The KMT efforts to force Thomas Liao to give in caused resentments to strive harder for their goal. [2]
Dr. and Mrs. Chou organized Taiwan study group in University of Wisconsin–Madison. They organized a solidarity meeting for Taiwanese Americans in 1965. The meeting decided to form UFI to be a more effective organization for the purpose of achieving Taiwan independence.
In 1966,United Formosans in America for Independence (UFAI) campus center grassroots revolution.
A reorganization of UFI was initiated in January 1966 and formally launched in June 1966. The new reorganized organization was named as UFAI (United Formosans in America for Independence). UFAI members kept up the struggle for Taiwan independence and were encouraged by George H. Kerr's book Formosa Betrayed,also published in 1965. They were also inspired by the anti-Vietnam war movement on US college campuses and the Taiwanese student movement to protect Tiao-yu-tai Island against Japan. They were especially encouraged by the news of Dr. Peng Ming-min escaping from Taiwan and appearing in Sweden.
They were also inspired by the successful story of the Cuban revolution a decade ago. Cuba,like Taiwan,was also an island nation that was controlled by the Bautista dictatorship in a similar manner that Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship controlled Taiwan. The Cuban revolution was sparked by 80 idealists who trained to be military guerillas to free Cuba after landing on the Sierra Madre Mountains. Almost all of the idealists died when they made it to the top but rather than surrendering,they made a radio announcement at top of the mountain that the army to free Cuba had arrived. UFAI members seek to follow the same model and trained to be revolutionary guerrillas to free Taiwan from the Chiang Kai-shek government with similar tactics.
UFAI was the first grassroots overseas Taiwanese independence organization dedicated to revolutionary change in Taiwan. Their three basic principles:
The first UFAI meeting was held in June 1966 at Independence,Missouri. It was decided there that they would meet every two years.
In 1967,Francis Tiu (Chong kui hen) became a full time activist to work for Taiwan Independence and work for UFAI as a dedicated activist. He currently resides in Sweden.
In 1969,the Summer UFAI meeting in Hammond,IN,took place.
In April,1970,UFAI member Peter Huang from Cornell University made an assassination attempt on Chiang Ching Kuo who had been invited to a luncheon in New York City. Huang fired a pistol at Chiang but failed to cause injury. Huang was arrested and pled guilty;his accompliice Cheng Tsu-Tsai fled to Sweden where he was extradited back to the U.S. [3]
In December,the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) was officially inaugurated in New York city.
In January,1971,WUFI announced their declaration to struggle for Taiwan independence. Among attendees were George Chang,Trong Chai,Lo hok-tsuan,Kyu Bun-ki,Strong Chuang ,Wang Po-wen. A decision was made to start publishing monthly newsletter titled "Taiwan Independence".
In NYC several WUFI members chained themselves at the United Nations headquarter demanding human rights in Taiwan.
In June, WUFI organized their first secret meeting at Denison University with roughly 90 people in attendance. Two people, Clyde Kiang and Tom Tseng, did not attend since they could not decipher the secret code.
At Little League World series held in Williamsport, the activists group hired an air plane to fly a banner. Pro KMT group took Taiwan flags away while in fights against some Taiwan Independence supporters.
WUFI had a campaign to send clandestine Taiwan Independence messages to Taiwan from 1971 to 1975. The Taiwan Independence symbol was the triangle over the circle.
In 1979, the Kaohsiung incident took place.
After the Kaoshiung incident took place, the murder of Lin Yi-siung's family took place on February 28, 1980. This energized the oversease Taiwanese community to fundraise for the movement in Taiwan. In 1980, the Taiwan Tribune started to be published and circulated among the Taiwan Independence supporters. Regional Taiwanese conferences that were organized all across North America would invite speakers and fundraise to support the movement in Taiwan. Efforts to organize the community to lobby the US and Canadian governments were started with earnest.
A series of bombings of KMT offices and officials in the United States from 1979 to 1980 resulted in the Department of Justice adding WUFI to its list of terrorist organizations in May 1980. [4] : 151
In 1984, Taiwanese underground figures came to California murder Chinese-American author Henry Liu. Liu was not an activist. Rather the Taiwan government was sensitive about writing revealing things they wish to protect. The book is available offering little new information.
In 1988, the World Taiwanese conference was to be held in Taiwan. WUFI members sought to attend this conference and convince Taiwanese people that the supporters for Taiwan independence are people who seek to serve Taiwan's best interests.
Since WUFI was founded in 1971, the above ground leadership was an overseas Taiwanese movement since to publicly support Taiwan independence in Taiwan would cause immediate arrest and imprisonment. In 1990, the overseas Taiwanese independence movement decided to make a concerted effort to challenge the blacklist and move their leadership back to Taiwan. In 1991, many of the WUFI leaders who went back to Taiwan were arrested and imprisoned. The overseas WUFI members and supporters organized solidarity protests to pressure Taiwan.
Overseas Taiwanese human rights and independence activists faced retribution from the KMT government in Taiwan. Almost all active members of WUFI were blacklisted and unable to return to visit their family in Taiwan. Some were blacklisted since the 1960s. The blacklist was finally lifted in 1993. [5]
The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations.
The February 28 incident was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947 that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang–led nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC). Directed by provincial governor Chen Yi and president Chiang Kai-shek, thousands of civilians were killed beginning on February 28. The incident is considered to be one of the most important events in Taiwan's modern history and was a critical impetus for the Taiwan independence movement.
Several proposals for a flag of Taiwan have been initiated by supporters of the Taiwan independence movement to replace the flag of the Republic of China as the national flag flown over Taiwan. Supporters of the movement object to the use of the flag of the Republic of China since it was designed by and is closely associated with the Kuomintang. However, no single flag has been established as the symbol of the independence movement, and supporters of Taiwanese independence, such as the Democratic Progressive Party, have accepted the flag of the Republic of China for the time being and have not pushed for a new flag. The flag of the Republic of China in current use is defined in the 6th article of the Constitution, and amending the Constitution requires a referendum which would only succeed with wide political support. The Republic of China, originally based in mainland China, retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and established its capital in Taipei. The region, now commonly referred to as "Taiwan" in vernacular, retains its official name "Republic of China" and still officially claims territories governed by the People's Republic of China, just as the PRC claims all ROC territories.
The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, the Meilidao Incident, or the Formosa Magazine incident, was a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 10 December 1979 during Taiwan's martial law period.
The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic lasted 151 days; it was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first East Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.
Peng Ming-min was a notable Taiwanese democracy activist, advocate of Taiwan independence, and politician. Arrested for sedition in 1964 for printing a manifesto advocating democracy in his native Taiwan, he escaped to Sweden, before taking a post as a university teacher in the United States. After 22 years in exile he returned to become the Democratic Progressive Party's first presidential candidate in Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996.
As a result of the surrender and occupation of Japan at the end of World War II, the islands of Taiwan and Penghu were placed under the governance of the Republic of China (ROC), ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), on 25 October 1945. Following the February 28 massacre in 1947, martial law was declared in 1949 by the Governor of Taiwan, Chen Cheng, and the ROC Ministry of National Defense. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the ROC government retreated from the mainland as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The KMT retreated to Taiwan and declared Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC. For many years, the ROC and PRC each continued to claim in the diplomatic arena to be the sole legitimate government of "China". In 1971, the United Nations expelled the ROC and replaced it with the PRC.
The Formosan League for Reemancipation was the first organization supportive of the Taiwan independence movement to be established outside the island of Taiwan after World War II. It was founded on 28 February 1948 in Hong Kong. Huang Chi-nan and Thomas Liao founded the organization after Thomas's brother Joshua had been arrested during the February 28 Incident of 1947 by authorities in Shanghai. Upon his release from prison, Joshua was entrusted with responsibility of coordinating the actions of FLR members in Nanking and Shanghai. Thomas oversaw FLR activists based in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The organization maintained direct contact with government officials in the United States and the Philippines. The Central Intelligence Agency collected information on the FLR.
Retrocession Day is the annual observance and former public holiday in Taiwan commemorating the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan and Penghu and the claimed retrocession ("return") of Taiwan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945. However, the idea of "Taiwan retrocession" remains in dispute.
Chiang Wei-shui was a Taiwanese physician and activist. He was a founding member of the Taiwanese Cultural Association and the Taiwanese People's Party. He is seen as one of the most important figures in Taiwan's resistance movement against Japanese rule.
Taiwanese nationalism is a nationalist movement which asserts that the Taiwanese people are a distinct nation. Due to the complex political status of Taiwan, it is strongly linked to the Taiwan independence movement in seeking an identity separate from China. This involves the education of history, geography, and culture from a Taiwan-centric perspective, promoting native languages of Taiwan such as Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and indigenous languages, as well as reforms in other aspects. Taiwanese nationalism was described as 'anti-imperialist' in that it opposed Japanese imperialism before 1945, opposed Chinese imperialism in modern times, and supported its own Taiwanese identity, which was distinct from China.
The term "Taiwanese people" has various interpretations. It may generally be considered the people living on the island of Taiwan who share a common culture, ancestry and speak Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, or indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue. Taiwanese people may also refer to the indigenous peoples of the areas under the control of the Government of the Republic of China since 1945, including Kinmen and Matsu Islands that collectively form its streamlined Fujian Province. However, the inhabitants of Kinmen and the Matsu Islands themselves may not consider the "Taiwanese" label to be accurate as they are a part of Fujian and not Taiwan. They have a distinctive identity from that of the Taiwanese; viewing themselves as Kinmenese or Matsunese, respectively, or as simply Chinese.
Chai Trong-rong, sometimes known in English as Trong Chai, was a Taiwanese politician.
The White Terror was the political repression of Taiwanese civilians and political dissenters under the government ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT). The period of White Terror 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 were repealed a year earlier on 22 April 1991 and martial law was lifted on 15 July 1987.
Ng Chiau-tong was a Taiwanese pro-independence activist who served as the chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) until his death in 2011.
Peter Wen-shiung Huang is a Taiwanese activist for democratization and human rights.
Liao Cheng-hao was a Taiwanese politician.
Cheng Tzu-tsai is a Taiwan-born architect and dissident who conspired with others in the 1970 assassination attempt of Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, in New York City.
The Formosa Alliance is a political coalition founded in Taiwan on 7 April 2018. The organization reformed as a political party on 20 July 2019.
Thomas Liao was a Taiwanese independence activist and founding leader of the Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government.
(House of Lords decision on extradition)