arrive in Taiwan Wednesday for a weeklong visit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman David Wang said yesterday. Wang said the itinerary of Tutu will be arranged by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), which invited him for the visit. The TFD is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights in Taiwan and abroad.
On Thursday, Tutu will meet with the family members of victims of the 228 Incident and pay a visit to Lin Yi-hsiung, former chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising against the corrupt KMT administration under the late President Chiang Kai-shek that began Feb. 28, 1947 and was followed by a bloody crackdown resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.
Lin's mother and twin daughters were murdered on Feb. 28, 1980 when he was in jail for his involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident in December 1979, a pro democracy rally that turned violent. The murder remains unsolved till today.
On Friday, Tutu will meet with Vice President Annette Lu and later ride the high speed rail line to Kaohsiung to visit churches in southern Taiwan.
On April 24, Tutu will deliver a speech on transitional justice and ethnic reconciliation and share the experience of South Africa in this regard.
He will also meet with President Chen Shui-bian April 24 before leaving Taiwan the following day.
Tutu, 75, is a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. Tutu served as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to move the nation along the path of reconciliation, one year after apartheid was done away with in 1994.
The TRC was a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa and, despite some flaws, is generally - though not universally - regarded as successful.
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