Geography Reference
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some of the magazine's twelve offices throughout the island, and on
one occasion a Formosa staffer was beaten by thugs. Others were con-
stantly tagged and harassed by Kuomintang agents, and their tele-
phone lines were tapped. Activists associated with the magazine
planned a rally for December 10, 1979, in observance of International
Human Rights Day. This was one of a series of rallies that were to cli-
max on December 16, the anniversary of the U.S. announcement of
its impending break of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China
on Taiwan and recognition of the Communist regime on the mainland.
The Kuomintang permitted the rally but prohibited protest marching.
But the march went ahead anyway, with clashes between rally partici-
pants (who numbered between 10,000 and 30,000) and police ensuing
and each side blaming the other for inciting the ensuing violence.
Police with shields and riot helmets fired tear gas canisters into the
crowd. Many rally participants and the police officers attempting to
control and contain the rally were seriously injured in the subsequent
melee, but fortunately nobody was killed.
Official accounts of the incident as well as historical writings based
on them claim that the police had been instructed not to retaliate even
if they were beaten. There are, however, also reports and indications
that there were Kuomintang or gangland agents provocateurs in the
crowdwhostirredupmuchofthetrouble.TheKuomintang-
controlled media on the island portrayed the rally as a violent and
seditious riot at which the police displayed extraordinary restraint,
even to the point of allowing themselves to be beaten without defend-
ing themselves. Television news reports featured prominent politi-
cians and entertainers visiting injured policemen in hospitals.
Meanwhile, a full 48 hours after the incident, the Kuomintang began
arresting several leaders and organizers behind the rally. Shih Ming-
teh eluded capture for a fewweeks. The apprehension, show trial, con-
viction, and sentencing of the “Kaohsiung Eight” became an
international media spectacle, and the Kuomintang government did
its best through its Government Information Office, headed by
Director-General James Soong (Song Chuyu), to control and contain
the public relations damage for the Kuomintang government interna-
tionally.
The Reverend Dr. Kao Chun-ming, General Secretary of the Presby-
terian Church in Taiwan, was imprisoned for several years for his role
in sheltering Shih Ming-teh. In his memoirs, Reverend Kao recalls his
difficult decision to harbor Shih Ming-teh from the Kuomintang
authorities:
