President Tsai Ing-wen (???) said Saturday that the people who fought against the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895 were martyrs for a national cause, and their spirits should be kept alive by protecting the nation.

Tsai was speaking at a ceremony in Taoyuan to commemorate the 127th anniversary of the War of Yi-Wei, which marked the beginning of the resistance to Japan’s 50-year colonial rule in Taiwan.

Taiwan is indebted to those who had sacrificed their lives to protect their homeland, Tsai said at the ceremony, at which 14,000 roses were laid in a memorial park in tribute to the resistance fighters.

Those fighters in 1895 were martyrs for a national cause, and their memories should be kept externally sacred by present day citizens standing up to protect their nation, Tsai said.

The insurgents were mainly Hakka volunteers, who had formed militias in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli, in the five-month resistance that recorded more than 14,000 causalities

The War of Yi-Wei, named after the year 1895 on the lunar calendar, was the biggest conflict in Taiwan’s history in resistance to an invasion, Tsai said.

All the ethnic groups in Taiwan provided logistics support to the frontline Hakka militia, in a united effort to protect their homeland, she said.

The commemoration of the War of Yi-Wei, which was attended Saturday by descendants of the fighters, serves as a reminder of the importance of national unity against an invasion, Tsai said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel