Those involved in the Tsai-Hsu incident. In the front row are Tsai Yu-chuan (second from the right) and Hsu Tsao-teh (third from the right). Photographer: Liu Chen-hsiang Back cover of Freedom Era. Courtesy of: Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation Taiwan’s martial law lasted for 38 years and 56 days in total and officially ended on July 15, 1987. Forerunners and martyrs of Taiwan’s pro-democracy movement, regardless of ancestral home or ethnicity, fought tirelessly for the cause. In particular, the shocking lesson in democracy of the Kaohsiung Incident Military Court Trial held in March 1980 galvanized a younger generation of the Tangwai movement to keep fighting for democracy. Although they were silenced and smeared by the media, which was controlled by the KMT party, government, and military, they managed to push the prodemocracy movement forward bit by bit on the streets and in local councils, election after election. Thanks to intense lobbying from overseas Taiwanese organizations, the US Congress passed a resolution in support of Taiwanese democracy in 1985. On August 17 of the same year, President Ronald Reagan 48 signed the 1986 Foreign Relations Authorization Act with a special section urging the Taiwanese government to implement democracy. In 1986, the US House of Representatives also passed a resolution urging the Taiwanese government to lift the political party ban. In August 20 of the same year, Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, visited Taiwan and openly suggested that the government lift the political party ban and the martial law. It was against this background of the times that the 1986 May 19 Green Action demanding the lifting of the martial law and the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party against the political party ban on September 28 did not suffer the same fate as Lei Chen in the Free China incident or the Kaohsiung incident’s military court trial. I. The Tsai Yu-chuan and Hsu Tsao-teh Incident: The First Taiwan Independence Organization After the Lifting of Martial Law Faced with domestic and foreign pressure, the authoritarian regime had no choice but to lift the martial law. However, the government also enacted the National Security Act During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion in 1987, in which Article 2 states that “assemblies and associations must not violate the Constitution, advocate communism, or advocate splitting the country”. On top of this, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion, Betrayers Punishment Act and Article 100 of the Criminal Code were still in place, meaning that the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and association that the people of Taiwan yearned for were still heavily restricted. The first organization supporting Taiwan independence after the lifting of martial law was prosecuted for the crime of insurrection and given a heavy sentence. This was the “Tsai-Hsu Taiwanese Independence Incident”. On August 30, 1987, just a month and a half after martial law was lifted, hundreds of victims of political persecution gathered at the International Hall on the second floor of Ambassador Hotel Taipei and announced the formation of the Taiwan Union for the Victims of Political Persecution. Freedom Era founder Cheng Nan-jung also attended to show solidarity. 49