Welcome to Taipei

FSI Stanford
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

By Natalie Johnson ’20, FSI Global Policy Intern at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy in Taipei, Taiwan.

I love how little time it has taken me to feel settled in Taipei — this city and I vibe very well. I came in with a solid foundation in Mandarin from my gap year in China and the two additional quarters of Chinese I took at Stanford earlier this year. On top of adjusting to Taiwanese Mandarin’s linguistic quirks, I have spent the past three weeks navigating the vast cultural differences between Taiwan and China. Taiwan’s vibrant activist scene, and people’s willingness to recognize and discuss the dark parts of the country’s past, is inspiring, immensely fascinating, and a phenomenon I rarely experienced in Greater China. The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), my internship organization, has been my springboard for this education.

Me standing next to TFD’s banner in front of the building.

This summer, I knew my main project at TFD would be to help organize the 2017 Asian Young Leaders for Democracy (AYLD) conference, set to begin at the end of July. Before delving in, TFD staff gave the other interns and I a crash course in modern Taiwanese history and how TFD was founded. I was pleased to see many women in high-ranking positions throughout the organization. We discussed the White Terror era, a period of violent suppression of political dissidents following the February 28 Incident. This included a period of martial law stretching 38 years from May 1949 to July 1987. I learned the events of February 28, 1947, can hardly be called a mere “incident” as the civil discontent that sparked the uprising had been years in the making, and the government’s backlash caused the deaths of thousands of Taiwanese civilians. This enlightening lecture made me think critically about attempts to downplay the severity of human rights atrocities, and the importance of remaining vigilant about these types of issues while interning at a human rights organization.

Fred Chin Him-San speaking to the interns in the same courtroom where he was sentenced back in 1971.

We concluded the day with a visit to the Jing-Mei Human Rights Culture Park, a White Terror detention center turned museum and memorial. Fred Chin Him-San, a Malaysian Taiwanese man formerly imprisoned there and on Green Island, was our tour guide. He led us through the courtrooms that lacked spots for defense attorneys and juries, the tiny, unsanitary prison cells that usually held five times more prisoners than could actually fit, the courtyard outside where the memorial to the hundreds of victims stood, and other chilling rooms in the detention facility. He spoke candidly about the unfair trials and gruesome torture he was subjected to for over a decade. From the way Fred was able to speak so lucidly about some horrific moments in his life, I could tell that he had told this story many times. I admire his activism in volunteering at Jing-Mei, and seek to honor him and the other victims and survivors of White Terror in my work.

On top of the violence of this era itself, what still has me reeling is how recent the White Terror was. The Taipei I see around me now looks nothing like the Taipei of just fifty years ago; I am blown away by how much progress this country has made in such a short period of time. These thoughts constantly buzz around my head while I am in the office, outlining small-group discussion sessions or drafting article proposals.

Last night, I attended a demonstration organized by a coalition of Taiwanese NGOs working to raise awareness about the “709 crackdown,” a series of targeted police questioning, detentions and arrests of human rights lawyers and activists in China.

Display at the demonstration. Sign reads “Let Li Mingzhe and the other 709ers return home.”

The fight for democracy and human rights is strong in Taiwan, and I am so excited to be a part of it this summer.

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies is Stanford’s premier research institute for global affairs.

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FSI Stanford

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The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies is Stanford’s premier research institute for international affairs. Faculty views are their own.

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies is Stanford’s premier research institute for global affairs.

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