Lifting of Martial Law in Taiwan
From 20 May 1949 Taiwan lived under martial law imposed by a decree issued by Chen Cheng, with freedoms of assembly, association, speech and publication heavily restricted and civilians liable to military trial. An opposition (dangwai) movement grew from the late 1970s, and in September 1986 the Democratic Progressive Party was founded while forming a party was still illegal. On 14 July 1987 Chiang Ching-kuo decreed that martial law in the Taiwan area would end at midnight on the 15th, bringing a National Security Act into force and ending 38 years of martial law; visits to the mainland, new newspapers and new parties followed, while Kinmen and Matsu remained under war-zone rule until 1992.
The Beginning of Martial Law
On 19 May 1949, on the eve of the Republic of China government's retreat to Taiwan, Chen Cheng, chairman of the Taiwan provincial government and commander of the Taiwan Garrison Command, issued a decree placing the whole province under martial law from 00:00 on the 20th. The proclamation closed every port except Keelung, Kaohsiung and Magong; banned assemblies, strikes, class boycotts, marches and petitions and the spreading of rumours; required residents to carry identity cards at all times on pain of arrest; and made spreading rumours, inciting riots, strikes and instigating student unrest punishable "by death according to law".
For the next 38 years, freedoms of assembly, association, speech, publication and travel were heavily restricted. The Garrison Command could censor and ban publications, disperse gatherings, restrict travel abroad, open and hold private mail, and try civilians in military courts. In 1960 Lei Chen's attempt to organise a "China Democratic Party" ended in a Communist-spy case.
The Dangwai Movement and a New Party
In the late 1970s came the Zhongli Incident and then the Formosa Incident: on 10 December 1979, opposition (dangwai) activists centred on Formosa magazine marched in Kaohsiung and clashed with police and troops, after which the Garrison Command arrested dangwai leaders en masse and tried them in military courts. The dangwai movement nonetheless kept growing, and calls for an end to martial law continued. According to Fu Guoyong, in May 1986 scholars including Tao Pai-chuan and Hu Fo arranged two face-to-face meetings between KMT and dangwai representatives.
On 28 September 1986 dangwai activists announced the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, at a time when forming a party was still illegal. Chiang Ching-kuo did not order a crackdown, adopting a stance of "no recognition, no suppression"; Shaw Yu-ming recalls him telling the KMT Central Standing Committee that "the times are changing, the tide is changing, the environment is changing". On 7 October he told Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham that martial law would be lifted, and on 15 October the KMT Central Standing Committee reached consensus on two reforms: enacting a national security law and allowing new civic organisations.
Martial Law Lifted
On 1 July 1987 the President promulgated the National Security Act for the Period of Mobilisation for the Suppression of the Communist Rebellion. On 14 July, acting on a Legislative Yuan communication of 8 July, Chiang Ching-kuo issued a presidential decree lifting martial law in the Taiwan area from 00:00 on 15 July, and brought the National Security Act into force. That evening Government Information Office director Shaw Yu-ming announced the decision to more than 200 Chinese and foreign reporters in the GIO press room. Thirty-eight years of martial law were over.
After Martial Law
On 16 September 1987 Chiang proposed to the KMT Central Standing Committee that arrangements be worked out quickly for residents to visit relatives on the mainland, while stressing that the three principles of anti-communism, recovering the mainland and national security would remain unchanged; from November that year Taiwan residents were allowed to visit relatives on the mainland, and the government went on to allow new newspapers to be registered. Chiang died on 13 January 1988 and was succeeded by Lee Teng-hui. Parties could be formed legally from January 1989, and in 1991 the National Assembly amended the constitution to abolish the Temporary Provisions for the Period of Mobilisation for the Suppression of the Communist Rebellion.
The 1987 lifting applied to the Taiwan area; Kinmen and Matsu remained under war-zone administration until 7 November 1992, when they returned to local self-government. After martial law ended, long-taboo subjects such as the February 28 Incident returned to public debate. By the Central News Agency's count, by 2017 the number of political parties had grown from three at the end of martial law to 319, and civic associations from 742 to 15,539, while newspapers grew from 31 before martial law ended to 2,325 in 2007.
Narrative Comparison
| Source | Narrative |
|---|---|
| Global Times editorial (18 December 2013) | Beijing's accounts of the martial-law era focus on the Nationalist suppression of the Communist underground. When the PLA General Political Department's liaison department completed an "Unnamed Heroes" memorial square in Beijing's Western Hills in 2013, a Global Times editorial said that more than 1,500 Communist cadres had entered Taiwan around 1949, that in the early 1950s the island's underground organisation was "devastated", and that "more than 1,100 were publicly tried and executed by the KMT authorities" — "a cruelty that is outrageous". It also attacked online views that "glorify the reactionary KMT regime of the time". |
| Martial law proclamation (20 May 1949); presidential decree lifting martial law (14 July 1987); Presidential Office timeline of Chiang Ching-kuo | The 1949 proclamation imposed martial law "to safeguard public order in the province", signed by "Chairman and Commander-in-Chief Chen Cheng". The 1987 decree consists of a single sentence — "pursuant to the Legislative Yuan's communication ... martial law in the Taiwan area is lifted from 00:00 on 15 July 1987" — signed by Chiang Ching-kuo, Premier Yu Kuo-hwa and Defense Minister Cheng Wei-yuan. The Presidential Office's present-day timeline lists the lifting of martial law, new newspapers and new parties among Chiang's reforms to "push forward the nation's democratization", saying these "enable Taiwan to develop a healthy democracy", and that allowing visits to the mainland from November 1987 "turns a new page in relations across the Taiwan Strait". |
| Mark Harrison (University of Tasmania), Lowy Institute, The Interpreter (13 July 2017) | The Australian scholar Mark Harrison notes that after martial law ended the government "immediately legislated the National Security Act, which replicated many of its state powers in the face of ferocious public opposition". Taiwan's democratisation, he argues, "was never a natural outcome of its rapid economic development" but "the result of the years of struggle and unimaginable courage of Taiwan's democracy activists"; it "was not a destination for Taiwan, but a starting point". After martial law, histories that had been silenced, such as the 228 Incident, re-entered public debate — work that he sees as still under way. |
| Former Government Information Office director Shaw Yu-ming (BBC Chinese interview, 2017) | Shaw Yu-ming, the information chief who announced the decision, recalled that on 13 July he received a call from the Presidential Office's deputy secretary-general asking him to announce the lifting of martial law at 6 p.m. the next day — "at first I couldn't believe it". He suggested the President should announce it himself, but was told "the President says you can announce it"; the words "by order of the President" were his own addition. The process, he said, was "not hasty" but decided methodically in light of world trends; when the DPP declared itself in 1986, Chiang did not order the Garrison Command to make arrests. In his view, the lifting of martial law brought democratic reform without unrest or a coup. |
Key Milestones
- Martial law imposed
Martial law takes effect across Taiwan province from midnight.
- Formosa Incident
Dangwai activists clash with police and troops in Kaohsiung; many are later arrested and tried in military courts.
- Democratic Progressive Party founded
Dangwai activists announce a new party at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, while party formation is still illegal.
- Chiang signals the end of martial law
Chiang Ching-kuo tells Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham that martial law will be lifted.
- National Security Act promulgated
The President promulgates the National Security Act for the Period of Communist Rebellion.
- Martial law lifted
Under the decree of 14 July, martial law in the Taiwan area ends at midnight.
- Proposal to allow mainland visits
Chiang proposes to the KMT Central Standing Committee that residents be allowed to visit relatives on the mainland.
- Death of Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Ching-kuo dies in Taipei; Lee Teng-hui succeeds him as president.
- War-zone rule ends in Kinmen and Matsu
War-zone administration ends in Kinmen and Matsu, which return to local self-government.
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