Peng Ming-min fought for the idea of “one China and one Formosa”
A leading advocate of Taiwan’s independence, he died on April 8th, aged 98
WHEN HE WAS a boy, few would have singled out Peng Ming-min as a future firebrand. Born in 1923 in Taiwan, then widely known as Formosa, he was bookish and other-worldly, with his main extra-curricular passion being baseball not politics. But by the time he had become a successful academic, four decades later, Taiwan’s peculiar and unhappy international position had virtually forced him into taking a political stand—one that was to lead him to jail, escape into exile and, eventually, a job as a presidential adviser, after a failed run at the top job himself.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “A taste for freedom”
From the April 23rd 2022 edition
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