TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) visited the National Archives Administration National Development Council (NAANADC) on Monday (July 15) to examine the progress made in declassifying political files.
NAANADC Director-General Lin Chiu-yen (林秋燕) reported that only 26 documents held by the organization are still classified. There are still eight classified cases, containing 4,556 documents, held by other branches of the government, per CNA.
Lin said there are three exceptions that allow the documents to maintain their classified status for up to 40 years, with National Security Council approval every three years. This applies if the classified documents:
- Endanger former operatives who worked in China
- Severely impact national security or international relations
- Or, severely impact present-day espionage work in China
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), who accompanied Lai, was impressed by the efficiency of the NAANADC. He said the files he read in preparation for the visit listed the declassified documents percentage at 96% not 99.96%.
Lai then issued three requests for the NAANADC to follow, per CNA. First, it should be active rather than passive in declassifying the documents.
Second, it should actively request all classified documents unless they are related to national security, legal issues or the human rights of the victims. Third, departments should not censor information based on fallacious reasons, so that transparency can be truly achieved.
Lai said he hoped the NAANADC could help Taiwanese understand the price of democracy. Cho seconded Lai’s opinion by quoting French author Milan Kundera:
“Mankind’s struggle with power is essentially a struggle with forgetting, so people need to remember what happened to prevent it from happening again.” Cho claimed the declassifications are not only for future generations, but for the victims and their families as well.
Lai slammed previous governments for “severely affecting people’s lives” and hiding the truth. He also saw a deed for Tainan prison, the oldest national record in the NAANADC, dating to 1743.
