Taiwan Garrison Command

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The Taiwan Garrison Command (台灣警備總司令部) was a secret police/state security body which existed under the Republic of China military on Taiwan. The agency was established at the end of World War II, and operated throughout the Cold War. It was disbanded three years after the lifting of martial law on August 1, 1992. It was responsible for suppressing activities of democracy and Taiwan independence movement.

[edit] History

The Taiwan Provincial Garrison Command (台灣省警備總司令部) was established in September 1945 at Chongqing, with Chen Yi as the first director general. Its major responsibilities included the repatriation of all Japanese nationals in Taiwan, transfer of authority over Taiwan to the Republic of China government, and to maintain law and order. It was renamed All-Taiwan Provincial Garrison Command (台灣全省警備總司令部) and relocated to Taipei, Taiwan in 1947. It was further split into Southeast Military Office (東南軍政長官公署) and Taiwan Provincial Security Command (台灣省保安司令部) in May 1949. The Southeast Military Office was directly responsible for the systemic killing of thousands of Taiwanese social elites, an incident known as 228 Incident.

In the year of 1958, the Republic of China government underwent a series of restructuring, and Taiwan Provincial Security Command was merged with Taiwan Provincial Civil Defense Command (台灣省民防司令部), Taiwan Defense Command (台灣防衛總司令部), and Taipei Garrison Command (台北衛戌總司令部) and renamed Taiwan Garrison Command.

[edit] Involvement

Although a division under the military, TGC actually functioned as a secret police organization. It was actively involved in suppression of democracy activists, and was rumored to have initiated many politically motivated assassinations/murders, such as the murder of Lin Yi-hsiung's family and the murder of Dr. Chen Wen-cheng.