The Kinmen county magistrate voiced his displeasure Monday at the absence of President Tsai Ing-wen (???) and high-ranking Cabinet officials at an annual ceremony to commemorate a crucial battle in which hundreds of soldiers were killed defending the island group from attempts by Beijing to invade 63 years ago.
Each year a memorial is held at Taiwushan Cemetery in the offshore county of Kinmen to commemorate the military personnel who gave their lives during the Artillery Bombardment of Kinmen, which began on Aug. 23, 1958 with shells from China falling nonstop on the islands for over a month.
Unmoved by the bombardment, Republic of China (ROC) soldiers secured the frontline fortress against the People's Liberation Army of China, further safeguarding the ROC government on Taiwan.
President Tsai attended the memorial in 2019 and 2020 but not this year. Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (???) said Sunday that the president had no plans to visit Kinmen this year, considering the need to limit travel to Taiwan's offshore islands amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of attending the Aug. 23 Artillery Bombardment commemoration ceremony, Tsai will visit the Armaments Bureau's Materiel Production Center and the Air Force Air Defense and Artillery Command on Taiwan proper Monday, Chang said.
However, the explanation failed to move Kinmen County Magistrate Yang Chen-wu (???), a member of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), who made a point of saying during Monday's memorial ceremony that it is unacceptable not one central government official in Kinmen bothered to attend the ceremony.
Sixty-three years ago 480,000 shells rained down on Kinmen in just 44 days. The bombardment "shocked the world and also changed the cross-strait situation," he said.
Yang noted that only those who have tasted the bitterness of war understand how precious peace is, and only those who lived through the bombardment are qualified to say "we wish for peace." He urged the central government to reflect on the meaning of the 1958 Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
For the people of Kinmen, nothing is meaningful unless this important battle is commemorated through a ceremony attended by high-rank governmental officials, Yang said, because that is the best way to ensure Taiwanese recognize the significance of the conflict.
Former opposition KMT Chairman Eric Chu (???) paid his respects to the fallen soldiers and military officials at Taiwushan Cemetery Monday. One day earlier, incumbent KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (???) did the same.
During his visit, Chu said the Artillery Bombardment of Kinmen was a national event, rather than between the KMT and the Communist Party of China. "Every soldier who was killed (in the battle) sacrificed their life defending the ROC and safeguarding Taiwan."
He contended that "defending the ROC" and "holding fast to democracy and freedom" are absolutely mainstream public opinion in Taiwan, rather than the Taiwan independence advocated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which currently governs the country.
Meanwhile, former President Ma Ying-jeou (???) called for reconciliation between Taiwan and China in a Facebook post on Monday.
He expressed hope that the two sides will restart talks and exchanges that have been frozen since the DPP's Tsai assumed the office in 2016, on the basis of the "1992 consensus" -- a key element in the KMT's engagement with China during Ma's presidency from 2008 to 2016.
The 1992 consensus refers to a tacit understanding that Taiwan's then KMT government and the Chinese government reached in 1992, which is interpreted by the KMT to mean both sides acknowledge there is only "one China," with each side free to interpret what that means.
In contrast, the DPP argues that the consensus is meaningless, because China has never openly recognized that each side is free to adopt its own interpretation, although it has also never denied it.
On Aug. 23, 1958, nine years after the then KMT-led ROC government relocated from mainland China to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war, Chinese communist forces launched an attack against the ROC military in Kinmen, which lies less than 10 kilometers off the southeast coast of China.
Over the next 44 days, 475,000 artillery shells were fired in an attempt to take over the island, but the ROC forces held off the Chinese bombardment, according to Taiwan's historical records.
During the battle, the United States government responded to the ROC's request for help, under a mutual defense treaty, and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the reinforcement of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet in the area, bringing an end to the Chinese bombardment.
According to government data, 439 ROC military personnel were killed and 1,911 injured in the 44-day bombardment. In addition, 80 civilians lost their lives and 221 were injured, the data showed.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel