Henry Liu

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Henry Liu
Chinese: 劉宜良
Pen name
Chinese: 江南
Literal meaning: "South of the river" (cf. Jiangnan)
For the American civil engineer, see Henry Liu (civil engineer).

Henry Liu (7 December 1932, Jingjiang, Jiangsu, China – 15 October 1984, Daly City, California, United States), often known by his pen name Chiang Nan, was a writer and journalist from Taiwan. He was a vocal critic of the Kuomintang, then the single ruling party of the Republic of China on Taiwan, and was most famous for writing an unauthorized biography of Chiang Ching-kuo, former president of the Republic of China.[1] He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

[edit] Assassination

On 15 October, 1984, Liu was shot to death in the garage of his home in Daly City, California.[1] His killers fled the country, returning to Taiwan. They did not face trial until the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered a tape made by chief hit man Chen Chi-li implicating Republic of China military intelligence in the killing, whereupon they began to pressure the government to bring Liu's killers to trial.[2] According to Chen's testimony at his trial in Taipei, Wang Hsi-ling of Kuomintang intelligence ordered the assassination.[3] A month after his conviction, Chen retracted this statement. However, Tung Kuei-sen, another one of the killers, corroborated this fact at his own trial in the United States in 1988, stating that the order for Liu's death had been given by the Taiwanese government. Despite having admitted to the killing, Tung was acquitted of murder, but convicted on unrelated drug dealing charges.[1][4] The assassination became a major political scandal in Taiwan and American officials were critical of the Kuomintang for orchestrating an assassination on United States soil.

Helen Liu, Henry Liu's wife, filed suit in United States federal district court against the Republic of China in the case Liu v. Republic of China, 892 F.2d 1419 (9th Cir. 1989), cert. dism'd, 497 U.S. 1058 (1990). The court held that the assassination took place under the orders of the Director of the Republic's Defense Intelligence Bureau, who was found to be acting "within the scope of his employment," thus accepting the legality of foreign government assassinations of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

The assassination was the subject of the book Fires of the Dragon by David E. Kaplan.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Bishop, Katherine. "California Jury Is Told Defendant Admitted Slaying Journalist", The New York Times, 1988-03-09. Retrieved on 2007-11-13. 
  2. ^ O'Neill, Mark. "King Duck Goes to His Taiwanese Reward", Asia Sentinel, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-11-13. 
  3. ^ "Taiwan Admiral Named at Murder Trial", The New York Times, 1985-03-21. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 
  4. ^ "Taiwan Murderer Changes His Story", The New York Times, 1985-05-11. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 
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