Coalition of Taiwan Independence’s (台灣建國聯合陣線)
Identity Snapshot
- English: Coalition of Taiwan Independence’s
- Chinese: 台灣建國聯合陣線
- Era: Contemporary
- Geography: Taiwanese American community
- Core roles: Community organization (TAH directory)
The Coalition of Taiwan Independence (台灣建國聯合陣線) was a broad united front organization established on December 15, 1979, bringing together multiple Taiwanese independence and democracy organizations from around the world. Member organizations included the World United Formosans for Independence, the Formosan Association, the Overseas Alliance of Taiwan Democratic Movement, the Taiwan Christian Self-Determination Movement, the Independent Taiwan Association, the Formosa Magazine, and the Chao Liu Magazine. Representatives included prominent figures such as Peng Ming-min, Kuo Yu-hsin, Huang Chang-hui, Shih Ming, Hsu Hsin-liang, and Chen Wan-jen. The coalition represented a significant expansion and consolidation of the Taiwanese democratic movement to Taiwanese communities worldwide.
Role in the Community
- Our own memoirs document how the coalition’s founding rippled through local community organizations:
- Per the Hsiung-Chih Association (協志會) history (協志會會史（Our Journeys 37）; English version Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture — major events; timeline restated in Our Journeys 38 and its English version Our Journeys 38 (EN), which quotes 洪順五’s December 15, 1979 statement at the founding: “Let the Kuomintang Regime completely disappear from this world”): in the wake of the 1979 Kaohsiung (美麗島) incident — 160+ opposition figures arrested, 美麗島/八十年代/春風 magazines seized — Bay Area members protested three times at the KMT’s San Francisco coordination office. Association president Shun-Wu Hong 洪順五, attending a New York coordinating meeting on December 14–15, 1979 out of indignation, signed the association into the hastily-formed 台灣建國聯合陣線 without a membership vote. The coalition declared its aim to “讓國民黨徹底從地球上消失” (make the KMT vanish completely from the earth). Afterward, members’ visitor visas to Taiwan were repeatedly obstructed, and many members became exiles unable to return home until the abolition of Criminal Code Article 100.
- A corpus essay on the 協志會 preserves the founding roster with named delegates (footnote citing 呂秀蓮《重審美麗島》): 臺灣獨立聯盟 張燦鍙, 臺美協會 彭明敏, 臺灣民主運動海外同盟 郭雨新, 臺灣人民自覺運動 黃彰輝, 臺灣民主運動歐洲同盟 陳重任, 獨立臺灣會 史明, 美麗島雜誌社 許信良, 潮流雜誌社 陳婉真, 臺灣共和國臨時政府 林臺元, 臺灣協志會 洪順五 (Our Journeys 280). The same essay notes 協志會 was originally a cultural group and that joining the coalition was an “accidental interlude” — some members resigned afterward while most continued to support the democratization movement.
- The New York “台灣之音” phone-line memoir (台灣之音回憶（Our Journeys 2）) records the coalition’s formation as part of the same wave — followed by the bombing of the ACCNYY (North American Coordination Council) in New York, attacks on KMT offices nationwide, and the 1980-02-28 Lin Yi-hung family massacre — and describes surveillance by black-clad agents shadowing movement broadcasters in that period.
- The coalition’s founding and the 協志會 fallout are also documented in 何義麟’s scholarly essay on Bay Area Taiwanese associations and 家國意識 (08/2020): the coalition’s registration got 協志會 listed by the KMT government as a 叛亂團體 (rebel organization), and several association leaders were placed on the blacklist — the essay reiterates that 協志會 was originally a cultural group and that joining the “hastily-formed” coalition was an “accidental interlude” unrelated to its mission (2020; footnotes citing 呂秀蓮《重審美麗島》 pp. 260–261 for the same founding roster).
- The TAH encyclopedia entry for the coalition is itself archived in the corpus: 36. Coalition of Taiwan Independence’s 台灣建國聯合陣線.