Kuomintang party HQ attacked

Suspected petrol bombs were lobbed at the Kuomintang (KMT) headquarters in Taipei early Sunday morning, the day marking the 69th anniversary of the February 28 Incident in Taiwan, local media reported on Sunday. The February 28 Incident, political taboo for decades under the late KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek's rule, refers to riots that erupted across the island in 1947 after a KMT inspector beat a female vendor in Taipei for selling smuggled cigarettes. Thousands were killed. Chiang died in 1975 after governing the island for 26 years, and February 28 was later made an official memorial day. The suspected arson attack which happened at around 4 am has drawn widespread criticism. Those who hate the party should stop "using historical wounds to create stand-offs and divisions," said KMT's acting chairwoman Huang Min-hui, Taipei-based Central News Agency (CNA) reported Sunday. Taiwan has seen an increase in extremist activity in support of "Taiwan independence" since the Democratic Progressive Party won in January elections, even if this might not be what incoming Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen wanted to see, Chen I-hsin, a political science professor at Taiwan's Tamkang University, told the Global Times on Sunday. Referring to Thursday's incident when the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei was defaced with paint, Chen warned that "such behavior could be infectious." Students at National Chengchi University on Friday plastered a statue of Chiang Kai-shek with fliers. The fliers listed the names and background of victims of the 228 Incident, the Taipei Times reported on Sunday. On Friday, Taiwan's legislature rejected a proposal to remove the portraits of Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China (ROC), from public buildings due to strong opposition from the KMT, according to CNA. On Sunday, Taiwan's outgoing leader Ma Ying-jeou said that the people have suffered much during the wars and martial law period, adding that the pains of history should be soothed and that peace and love should fill the land, CNA reported. Lin Yih-hua, director of the KMT's Department of Culture and Communications, said the KMT and the incumbent leader of the island have made great efforts over the years "to heal the wounds and proactively promote reconciliation among ethnic groups," CNA reported on Friday. She said the party was worried that such a radical way of expressing views might generate new "hatred and stand-offs" in Taiwan, which already enjoys freedom of expression and ethnic harmony.