On the evening of December 10, 1979, while the government of the Republic of China was preoccupied with the opening of the fourth session of the 11th Central Committee of the ruling party, the Kuomintang of China, a few hundred yelling youths beat up unarmed police with heavy clubs and steel bars at the southern port city of Kaohsiung under the instigation of the Formosa magazine.

The magazine was founded August 15, 1979, with Legislative Yuan member Huang Hsin-chieh as publisher and Hsu Hsin-liang, who had been suspended from office as magistrate of Taoyuan County, as director. Other key figures were Lu Hsiu-lien and Huang Tien-fu, deputy directors; Chang Chung-hung, chief editor; and Shih Ming-teh, general manager.

Four issues were published. Each of these distorted facts, questioned the legality of the ruling party and ignored the government's achievements in economic development during the last 30 years. Employing angry words, the magazine tended to instigate violence. Before the Kaohsiung incident, it had established a headquarters in Taipei and service centers in Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu-Miaoli, Taichung, Yunling-Chiayi, Tainan City, Tainan County, Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County and Pingtung County. These service centers were ostensibly to promote circulation of the magazine. Actually, they constituted a conspiratorial network engaged in seditious and subversive activities. In the four months after its establishment, the magazine sponsored 11 mass rallies in an attempt to stir up trouble and undermine the social order. Of these rallies, the Taichung incident of November 20 was the most notorious. Because of proper precautionary measures by the authorities, this incident was fortunately stopped short of riot proportions.

The Kaohsiung riot of December 10, was a premeditated result of conspiracy. The magazine had applied to the District Police Bureau in Kaohsiung tar all assembly and parade permit. The police withheld approval, because that the timing coincided with start of the period of winter vigilance, that the expected crowd of 30,000 would endanger public order, and that a magazine did not have any business organizing public demonstrations, but the magazine insisted on going ahead.

On the evening of December 9, Formosa sent two propaganda sound trucks into the Kaohsiung streets to persuade people to attend the rally scheduled for the following day. The oratory was of a fiery nature intended to arouse those who heard it to join in the violent activities of the inciters. At 9 o'clock, the Kushan District Police Bureau dispatched a patrol car to the area to maintain peace and order. The car was attacked by Chiu Sheng-hsiung and Yao Kuo-chien, propagandists for the magazine. Police arrested the two and charged them with interfering with discharge of police duties. After the two were released on bail, representatives of the magazine went to the Kaohsiung District Court to charge the police bureau with violation of human rights. They also made false reports abroad in an attempt to distort the facts and cause confusion.

At 3 p.m. on December 10, the magazine put up two big signs at its front door proclaiming Chiu and Yao, both of whom had criminal records, to be "human rights martyrs." Widespread distribution was given to copies of "A letter to all fellow countrymen" about the arrests of Chiu and Yao for attacking the police car. The letter seditiously advocated "Taiwan independence" and defamed the government.

At 5 p.m. on December 10, the magazine brought together from various places in Taiwan more than 200 lawless and radical elements armed with clubs. steel bars, iron hooks, torches, incendiary chemicals, axes, wine bottles and rocks that had been deliberately gathered and made ready specifically for such use. The group prepared to parade and make trouble. At 6:40, a group from the magazine's Kaohsiung office headed for Rotary Park. The column was urged to disband and stopped on several occasions by military and civilian police who were maintaining order along the road after the magazine broke its word that any meeting would be limited to a lecture held at the office.

At 8:30, the lawless elements began to ignite their torches. They then attacked the police, who had shields but no weapons, with clubs, torches, axes, broken bottles, brickbats and rocks. Such leading firebrands of the magazine as Shih Ming-teh, Chou Ping-teh and Lu Hsiu-lien took turns in broadcasting harangues from the sound truck. They defamed the government and attempted to rouse public sympathy. Although bystanders had by then increased to nearly 10,000, none showed any indication of joining the rioters. At first, the bystanders merely looked on. Subsequently, some of them tried to help the police put an end to the violence; others gave assistance to wounded policemen.

For six hours, the police obeyed their order not to "shout or strike back." They endured the assault and finally contained the violence. The price in broken heads was high. More than 180 policemen were injured. The most seriously hurt were policeman Chen Hsiao-jung of the Peace Preservation Unit and Colonel Po Yu-shan, commander of the Military Police Detachment.

People were quick to condemn the rioters. A chorus of public opinion urged the government not to continue countenancing violent and subversive activities by magazine ringleaders hiding behind a pretense of democracy and human rights. The government was urged to punish the rioters sternly in accordance with law. Those expressing opinions included representatives of people's organs at various levels, civic bodies, student bodies of colleges and universities, professors, businessmen and industrialists, women leaders, writers, artists and public functionaries. Letters to newspapers condemned the violence and called for stability, solidarity and enforcement of the rule of law. Similar sentiments were expressed at television and radio interviews. Public feeling against those who attacked the unarmed police ran high.

The government decided to act in answer to these public expressions and prevent the terrorists from engaging in further obstructive activities but to proceed wholly in accordance with law. On December 13, the Taiwan Garrison General Headquarters ordered the arrest of the leaders involved in the Kaohsiung riots: Chang Chung-hung, Yao Chia-wen, Wang To, Chen Chiu, Chou Ping-teh, Su Chiu-chen, Lu Hsiu-lien, Chi Wang-sheng, Lin Yi-hsiung, Chen Chung-hsin, Yang Chin-cho, Chiu Yi-ping, Wei Ting-chao and Yang Fu-chung and Shih Ming-teh.

Huang Hsin-chieh, publisher of Formosa magazine and the suspected mastermind of the Kaohsiung riot, was arrested December 14 and charged with sedition. As he is a member of the Legislative Yuan, his arrest had to be approved by a meeting of the legislature. Those arrested will be placed on public trial within four months. Peace- keeping authorities have urged secondary elements who took part in the riots to surrender themselves and gain entitlement to lighter punishment under the law.

Many members of the public showed their concern even while the riot was going on. A 42-year-old housewife from Hualien suddenly became a heroine after it was found that she had begged on her knees for the mob to stop assaulting unarmed security personnel during the riot. The woman, Mrs. Chang Chen-kang, a mother of three, works with the Hualien Women's Association. On the day of the riot, she was shopping in Kaohsiung on her way to see her sick mother. "When I saw the ruffians beating up the policemen and MPs," she recalled, "I grew so upset that I knelt down and shouted 'Stop it, stop it!' But they were so wild that they would not listen." When she returned to Hualien from Kaohsiung, she made no mention of the matter. Her children kept her secret, because they, too, believed she had done only what any patriotic citizen would have done. There is always a good side to human nature, and the power of justice is great. The people were moved by Ms. Lin's courage and they lavished her with overwhelming admiration. In contrast, the misconduct of the lawless people who took part in the riot seems all the more ugly.

Patrick Corcoran, director of the Kaohsiung branch office of the American Institute in Taiwan, said that although in the U.S. a public demonstration is a common affair and conflicts often arise with police assigned to maintain order, the violence is not usually so great as in the Kaohsiung incident. In the U.S., people are bestowed by the constitution with the right to demonstrate, but demonstrations are subject to approval. In New York for instance, demonstrators must obtain licenses from the government and must abide by regulations concerning routes and methods used in a procession. The authorities have the right to ask demonstrators to avoid areas where conflicts may arise, Corcoran said. If the demonstrators do not abide by the regulations, police have the right to take appropriate action.

There is a limit to the extent of parades and demonstrations in any democratic country. Most important of all, demonstrators must not carry weapons or commit acts of violence. Otherwise, they will become rioters, who are subject to the control and detention of the police. We believe that people who fight for their ideas must act within the bounds of the law. They should not use mobs to agitate the public and endanger social security. They must give priority to the interests of the nation; otherwise they will lose the sympathy of the people. Except for those who have ulterior motives, and wish to take advantage of social unrest, nobody in our society is in favor of violence, which can only bring harm, damage, and, in the end, calamity.

Following the riot, the government closed the office of Formosa magazine and its 10 service centers. As the news of the Kaohsiung riot broke, a handful of "Taiwan Independence" elements in the United States disseminated lies and misrepresented the arrest of Chiu Sheng-hsiung and Yao Kuo-chien, as an abuse of human rights by the authorities. They also distorted the popular condemnation of the beating given the police by rioters as an expression of indignation against the government. They further distorted the participation of a few hundred in the Kaohsiung riot as a demonstration of 100,000 people. Never before have the "Taiwan independence" elements been so vicious in their falsehoods and misrepresentations. Additionally, some of these elements have been harassing ROC organizations in the United States. The Formosa magazine's director, Hsu Hsin-liang, has been participating in "Taiwan independence" activities in the United States, and made a telephone call of encouragement to the magazine on the eve of the Kao-hsiung riot. Moreover, it was reported that on December 9, private American companies in Kaohsiung had been notified from the U.S. to be on alert for possible violence. All of these facts combine to demonstrate that the Kaohsiung riot was a carefully planned conspiracy of "Taiwan independence" elements to subvert the government from inside and outside the country.

Commenting on the arrests, Taiwan Provincial Governor Lin Yang-kang stressed that the government tolerated some nonpartisans' biased words and improper actions in the past, because it wanted them to repent by themselves. Governor Lin said the rioters in Kaohsiung were under the illusion that the government would not punish them. The government was aware that it would be a loss to the nation if members of the Formosa staff were arrested, because the government had spent a lot of time and money to educate them. Gov. Lin regretted the arrest of the magazine members and said they had let the government down.

Governor Lin also said during an exchange of views with Ralph Clough, former deputy chief of the U.S. mission in Taipei, that the "Taiwan independence" concept is impractical and highly dangerous. Besides the common ancestral roots and cultural heritage of the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, the geographical proximity between Taiwan and the mainland also underlines the fact that they are two parts of Chinese territory. He also pointed out that there is little chance that an independent Taiwan would win international recognition. Such a move would only furnish the Chinese Communists with an excuse to launch a military invasion, he said.

Furthermore, the governor noted, some advocates of the "Taiwan independence movement" call for the expulsion of all citizens who arrived in Taiwan after V-J Day. "Such a move would inevitably create chaos and blood-shed in Taiwan, which would in turn pave the way for a Communist take-over." The governor also refuted the assertion that citizens who arrived in Taiwan before V-J Day are discriminated against politically. Dominance by "mainlanders" in the government immediately after the war was a natural development, since locally-born citizens were inexperienced in government affairs after half a century of Japanese rule, he said. Thanks to rapid developments in education, this is no longer the case. Author of Island China, Clough himself considers it impractical for the 17 million Chinese in Taiwan to proclaim independence.

At the meeting of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) on December 20 and at the annual meeting of the National Assembly December 25, Premier Sun Yun-suan expressed the government's position on the Kaohsiung case in these two points: (1) The government has been handling the case fairly and squarely in keeping with the normal procedures of law, and no one will be allowed to capitalize on the Kaohsiung riot to stir up trouble. (2) The govern ment is wholly sincere and completely determined to promote democracy and preserve human rights. As always, it will devote every effort to the attainment of this goal and never take the slightest step backward in consequence of the Kaohsiung riot.

Additionally, President Chiang Ching-kuo told the National Assembly meeting that "our progress toward democracy should be evolutionary and not imprudent, that democracy must be cultivated and not transplanted, and that democracy must be adapted to our own national environment so it can strike root in our own soil." He also said that "we must therefore implement the democratic and constitutional rule envisaged in the Three Principles of the People."

At the same time he listed several liberalizing measures as political aims for the present stage: rescheduling of last year's parliamentary elections, canceled following the ending of US-ROC diplomatic relations; establishing an election by-law to avoid future incidents such as the Chungli riot of 1977 over a balloting dispute; and developing respect for differing political opinions while discouraging ideas and activities of rebellion.

"Our country needs love instead of hatred, reason instead of rashness, to establish it as a society of freedom, democracy, peace and wellbeing," said the President.

[Picture Caption]

Members of the Formosa magazine staff try to stir up a riot, while crowds of people look on from a pedestrian overpass. This picture proves that by-standers do not participate in the riot.

As rioters attack with torches and clubs, the police level their billy clubs to protect themselves.

This picture shows clearly the viciousness and cruelty of the rioters.

Lin Yu-chu begs on her knees for the mob to stop assaulting unarmed security personnel.

Chen Hsiao-jung of the Peace Preservation Unit lost 100 teeth in an attack by rioters wielding steel hooks. When Kung Ling-cheng, Director General of National Police Administration, went to express his concern and present a cash gift, Chen unable to speak or eat, wrote: "What is the use of money? All I want is the wellbeing of my country."

Below: Members of the Formosa magazine use sound trucks and loudspeakers to broadcast biased and divisive harangues to instigate the public. Right: Linda Gail Arrigo, Shih Ming-teh's American wife, wearing a ribbon emblazoned with the "Taiwan independence" emblem, standing on the sound truck to give an inflammatory speech to the rioters. She was later declared persona non grata by the police authorities and deported. On the day she left, she was still wearing the same ribbon. Her malicious objective of accusing the government and trying to in influence Americans' opinion of ROC government policy has aroused nationwide indignation.

This picture shows clearly the viciousness and cruelty of the rioters.

Lin Yu-chu begs on her knees for the mob to stop assaulting unarmed security personnel.

Chen Hsiao-jung of the Peace Preservation Unit lost 100 teeth in an attack by rioters wielding steel hooks. When Kung Ling-cheng, Director General of National Police Administration, went to express his concern and present a cash gift, Chen unable to speak or eat, wrote: "What is the use of money? All I want is the wellbeing of my country.".

Members of the Formosa magazine use sound trucks and loudspeakers to broadcast biased and divisive harangues to instigate the public. Right: Linda Gail Arrigo, Shih Ming-teh's American wife, wearing a ribbon emblazoned with the "Taiwan independence" emblem, standing on the sound truck to give an inflammatory speech to the rioters. She was later declared persona non grata by the police authorities and deported. On the day she left, she was still wearing the same ribbon. Her malicious objective of accusing the government and trying to in influence Americans' opinion of ROC government policy has aroused nationwide indignation.

Members of the Formosa magazine use sound trucks and loudspeakers to broadcast biased and divisive harangues to instigate the public. Right: Linda Gail Arrigo, Shih Ming-teh's American wife, wearing a ribbon emblazoned with the "Taiwan independence" emblem, standing on the sound truck to give an inflammatory speech to the rioters. She was later declared persona non grata by the police authorities and deported. On the day she left, she was still wearing the same ribbon. Her malicious objective of accusing the government and trying to in influence Americans' opinion of ROC government policy has aroused nationwide indignation.

Members of the Formosa magazine use sound trucks and loudspeakers to broadcast biased and divisive harangues to instigate the public. Right: Linda Gail Arrigo, Shih Ming-teh's American wife, wearing a ribbon emblazoned with the "Taiwan independence" emblem, standing on the sound truck to give an inflammatory speech to the rioters. She was later declared persona non grata by the police authorities and deported. On the day she left, she was still wearing the same ribbon. Her malicious objective of accusing the government and trying to in influence Americans' opinion of ROC government policy has aroused nationwide indignation.