Ep 208 | Dr. Wilma Welsh: How the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Became the Voice of the People in the 1970s

Oct 9, 2022

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A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

When Wilma Welsh left Canada to work with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) in 1969, she told me that it changed her life.

Little did she know how she’d be a part of the pivotal role that the PCT would play as a voice for the people of Taiwan. During her time in Taiwan, Wilma experienced the Kuomintang’s surveillance and censorship, and felt the lingering impact of the 228 massacre which happened on February 28, 1947.

She was the English secretary to Reverend Kao Chun-ming, the General Secretary of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. When Taiwan’s international status and the fate Taiwan’s people came in to question Reverend Kao and others wrote the Public Statement on Our National Fate, Wilma typed it up and took it out of Taiwan to Hong Kong where it could be safely mailed out. She also recounted how she was working at the Bible Society in Taipei in 1975 when the Kuomintang arrived to confiscate Taiwanese Hoklo language versions of the Bible and ended up smuggling out 2 copies of the Bible.

In 2006 she became the Moderator of the 132nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. She was the first lay person to ever hold this position. In 2010 she was by the bestowing of a Doctor of Divinity Degree (DD) from Knox College, the University of Toronto. During her year as Moderator she received three additional honors, a life membership in the Women’s Missionary Society, the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Medal, and an honorary membership in the World Taiwanese Christian Association.

This episode of Talking Taiwan has been sponsored by NATWA, the North America Taiwanese Women's Association.

NATWA was founded in 1988, and its mission is:

to evoke a sense of self-esteem and enhance women's dignity,
to oppose gender discrimination and promote gender equality,
to fully develop women's potential and encourage their participation in public affairs,
to contribute to the advancement of human rights and democratic development in Taiwan,
to reach out and work with women's organizations worldwide to promote peace for all.

To learn more about NATWA visit their website: www.natwa.com

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Wilma’s early involvement with the Presbyterian Church
What brought Wilma to Formosa (as Taiwan was known then) to work with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
Wilma’s parents’ reaction to her going to Taiwan
What Wilma was doing before she went to Taiwan
What Wilma knew about Taiwan before she went there
The language training that Wilma did before going to Taiwan
Wilma’s first impressions of Taiwan
How Wilma first worked with M.C. Chong
How Wilma work for Dr. Kao (Reverend Kao Chun-ming)
How Taiwan was under martial law and Wilma had to beware of informers
The censorship of postal mail coming from Taiwan
Wilma’s work with Dr. Kao
How she worked half a day on Wednesdays at the Bible Society
How it was not safe for Dr. Kao to speak with Wilma about certain things in the office because there were planted informants in the office
How the Taiwanese were afraid of the Kuomintang since the 228 Massacre had happened
How she burned documents that Dr. Kao didn’t want people to read
How the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was pressured to cancel its membership in the World Council of Churches
The letter that was written by Presbyterian Church in Taiwan stating that it was not their wish to withdraw from the World Council of Churches
How Wilma hid this letter when she left Taiwan for Hong Kong where she mailed the letter out to partner churches
The letter was also taken to the American embassy (AIT) to be sent out to the U.S.
How the Republic of China’s United Nations seat was transferred to the People’s Republic of China in 1971 when UN Resolution 2758 recognized the PRC as the legitimate representative of China and what that meant for the fate of Taiwan and the people of Taiwan
What prompted the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) to issue the Statement on Our National Fate
How Wilma secretly took copies of the PCT’s Statement on Our National Fate with her to Hong Hong to be mailed out
How the PCT’s Statement on Our National Fate stated:
How the PCT’s Statement was perceived as a challenge to the Kuomintang’s authority
What happened when the Kuomintang sent police to confiscate Hoklo (Taiwanese) language bible from the Bible Society in 1975
How Wilma was asked to intervene and smuggle copies of the Bible out of Taiwan
How Wilma smuggled the Bibles out of Taiwan to Canada
How Wilma knew that despite the things she did, she was protected by the Canadian government
How there were informants in the office of the PCT
Wilma reflects on how the time she spent in Taiwan changed her
Wilma’s thoughts on current events related to Taiwan, such as the church shooting in Irvine and the visit of Nancy Pelosi