Originally published on May 12, 2019.
This essay examines the truth of the 228 Incident and the final moments of Yun Teh-chang, who gave his life to save the people of Taiwan.
At a time when Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, and human rights are once again under threat, it calls for strong Japan-U.S.-Taiwan solidarity to prevent any military invasion by China.

2019-05-12
Now that Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, and human rights are once again about to be violated, Japan must take the lead in demonstrating firm Japan-U.S.-Taiwan solidarity and, by all means, prevent a military invasion of Taiwan by China.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
“The Day of Justice and Courage.”
In the early hours of March 9, ten days after the outbreak of the 228 Incident, the elite 21st Division of the Kuomintang army landed from Keelung and Kaohsiung.
Just as Teh-chang had predicted, Governor-General Chen Yi, who until then had agreed to democratization, reversed course and began repression, claiming that the masterminds of the incident were “Communist elements who had infiltrated” and “Japanese retained in service.”
The “Japanese retained in service” were Japanese who had remained in Taiwan at the request of the authorities even after the war, for the sake of administrative transition and technology transfer.
Chen Yi made them out to be the masterminds behind the disturbance.
Teh-chang and others, who had rushed about trying to calm the incident, were also arrested.
The Kuomintang government sought to use this incident as an opportunity to wipe out the elite class and round up the intellectual strata from the period of Japanese rule in one sweep.
Li Hsiao-feng, the leading authority on 228 Incident studies and a full-time professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Culture, National Taipei University of Education, says the following.
“The 228 Incident has one aspect in which the Kuomintang, taking advantage of this opportunity, ‘systematically’ captured and killed elites throughout Taiwan.
Beginning with Mr. Yun Teh-chang, many elite figures from all walks of life across the island were arrested and killed during roughly the one-month period beginning on March 9.
In other words, the majority of them were ‘premeditatedly murdered’ despite having had nothing to do with the uprising.”
The wiping out of the elite class from the Japanese rule period—that was the terrifying truth of the 228 Incident.
After his arrest, Teh-chang was subjected to brutal torture.
Yet he never revealed the names of the leaders, including the students.
“Who was it!
Who handed the weapons over to you!”
Even when he was hung upside down, beaten with rifle butts, and had his ribs broken, Teh-chang did not give up a single name.
What left many Taiwanese people shocked and deeply moved was the moment of Teh-chang’s execution.
Falsely accused and brought by truck to a park called Minsheng Green Park, Teh-chang refused both a blindfold and to be tied to a tree, and shouted, “There is no need to blindfold me, nor to tie me to a tree!
Because the blood of the Yamato spirit runs through me!”
All of this was in Taiwanese.
Then he added, “If anyone is guilty, I alone am enough!”
I alone will bear the罪 and die, so do not worry, and never lose to people like these!
That was how Teh-chang appealed to the souls of the people.
And then, at the very end, not in Taiwanese but in “Japanese,” he cried out:
“Long live the Taiwanese people!”
At that moment, gunshots roared.
When the third bullet pierced the space between his eyebrows, Teh-chang slowly collapsed, like a giant tree falling.
The people were left speechless with astonishment and emotion.
The final moments of lawyer Sakai Teh-chang, who saved the lives of the people of Tainan in exchange for his own life, continued to be passed down in whispers even under the world’s longest period of martial law, lasting 38 years.
Then, half a century later, Teh-chang suddenly returned.
The city of Tainan renamed Minsheng Green Park, the site where Teh-chang had been executed, “Yun Teh-chang Memorial Park,” and at the same time erected a bust of him.
A further sixteen years later, in 2014, Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te established the anniversary of Teh-chang’s death as Tainan’s “Day of Justice and Courage.”
I find myself thinking about what the 228 Incident, and the existence of Teh-chang, who sacrificed himself to save the Taiwanese people, really mean.
Seventy years after the 228 Incident, Taiwan now faces the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, which once fought the Kuomintang.
In 2005, China enacted the “Anti-Secession Law.”
It clearly states that “non-peaceful means” may be used to eliminate those seeking Taiwan’s independence.
Now that Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, and human rights are once again about to be violated, Japan must take the lead in demonstrating firm Japan-U.S.-Taiwan solidarity and, by all means, prevent a military invasion of Taiwan by China.
I sincerely hope people will come to understand the “meaning” of defending peace through the words and actions that Sakai Teh-chang left behind.