TAIPEI, Taiwan -- As Taiwan marked its first Freedom of Speech Day on Friday, President Tsai Ing-wen said she would commit herself to safeguarding Taiwan's hard-won democracy.
"Today is Taiwan's first Freedom of Speech Day," Tsai said at a memorial service held in New Taipei City to commemorate the death of pro-democracy activist Cheng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who immolated himself 28 years ago as a protest against authoritarian rule.
"As Taiwan's president, I will continue to work hard to fight for democracy, fairness and justice, and will continue to fight till the end to defend our hard-earned freedom," Tsai said.
Last year, the government officially designated April 7 as Freedom of Speech Day in honor of Cheng, who died less than two years after decadeslong martial law had been lifted and Taiwan was yet to have completed the process of democratization.
Tsai noted that in 1989, Taiwan's National Assembly and Legislature had not been fully re-elected for decades, the president had never been popularly elected and there were still laws restricting freedom of speech.
But now the Taiwanese people can directly elect their president and the transfer of power between different parties following presidential elections has taken place peacefully three times, she said.
After delivering her speech, Tsai, together with Cheng's wife, former Vice Premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), laid flowers at a monument devoted to the pro-democracy pioneer.
In 1989, Cheng faced sedition charges for printing a draft constitution for a hypothetical Republic of Taiwan in a magazine, Freedom Era Weekly, of which he was founder and editor-in-chief.
He refused to appear in court, and when police came to the magazine's office in Taipei to arrest him on April 7, 1989, he committed suicide by setting himself on fire.
Other activities were also held to mark the day, including a forum arranged by the Ministry of the Interior on challenges involving and the development of freedom of speech in Taiwan.
One of the focuses at the forum was so-called "fake news," but Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said she would rather describe such unfounded stories as "web rumors."
The tech-savvy minister likened "web rumors" to "flu," which can be cured by feeding the "patient" with multiple sources of information to improve his or her "immune system."
She said often the recipients of the "web rumors" would quickly resend them to others without thinking. And when they do start questioning the truth in these rumors, they are cured of the "flu," but they have already infected others, she said.
Therefore, their "immune system" must be strengthened to prevent them from falling prey to the rumors, she added.
Tang stressed that unless the rumors involve criminal acts, the government should not seek to invoke criminal law to punish those who spread "web rumors."
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