TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Academia Historica is releasing a series of publications on Taiwan’s post-WWII political history at a book launch event at its Taipei campus on Saturday.
The institute said it aims to deepen the public's understanding of Taiwan's political history by publishing five compilations of documents, according to a press release. It also highlights the human rights violations under martial law and urges society to learn from the past and cherish democracy.
Three works shed light on the political development of postwar Taiwan, particularly the discussions and decisions of intelligence and security agencies during martial law. The other two reveal the government's strategies for surveillance and infiltration during that era, including the use of insiders, some of whom later became prominent cabinet officials.
The materials also cover the Presbyterian Church in the 1970s. Some statements it issued at the time attracted the attention of government intelligence agencies, which responded with surveillance and suppression, Academia Historica said.
The publications to be released include:
“The Diary of Chen Cheng (陳誠)”
“Selected Archives of the Domestic Security Council”
“New Compilation of Historical Materials on Martial Law and Lifting of Martial Law”
“Postwar Taiwan Political Cases: A Compilation of Taiwan Independence Union Materials”
“Postwar Taiwan Political Cases: A Compilation of Taiwan Presbyterian Church-related Materials”
Last month, Academia Historica digitized the fourth batch of Chiang family diaries and made it public via a digital archive database. The diaries are organized by volume and subdivided into daily entries, with covers, annual summaries, and significant events treated as separate entries.
