[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 30 (Monday, February 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE 65TH COMMEMORATION OF TAIWAN'S ``2 28 MASSACRE''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT GARRETT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 27, 2012

  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 65th 
commemoration of Taiwan's ``2 28 Massacre.''
  On February 28, 1947, the brutal arrest of a female civilian in 
Taipei led to large-scale protests by the native Taiwanese against the 
repression of Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists, who occupied 
Taiwan on behalf of the Allied Forces after Japan's defeat in 1945.
  During the following days, Chiang's government sent troops from 
mainland China to the island. The Chinese soldiers began capturing and 
executing leading Taiwanese lawyers, doctors, students, and other 
citizens.
  It is estimated that at least 18,000 people lost their lives during 
the turmoil. During the following four decades, the Chinese 
Nationalists continued to rule Taiwan under a martial law system that 
lasted until 1987.
  The 2 28 Massacre has had far-reaching implications. Over the next 
half-century, the Taiwanese democracy movement that grew out of the 
incident helped pave the way for Taiwan's momentous transformation from 
a dictatorship under the Chinese Nationalists to a thriving and 
pluralistic democracy.
  I urge other Members to join me in commemorating this important 
historical event.

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