THE COMMITTEE TO OBTAIN JUSTICE FOR HENRY LIU STATEMENT OF MRS. HELEN LIU TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M01152R000500620012-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 7, 1985
• Content Type: MISC

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THE COMMITTEE TO OBTAIN JUSTICE FOR HENRY LIU
Statement of Mrs. Helen Liu to the Subcommittee on
Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Coirinittee on
Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives,
Thursday, February 7, 1985
I am grateful and honored to be asked to come here today
to testify before the United States Congress regarding my
husband, Henry Liu, and to relate to you, and to the
American People some of the history of my husband's life,
what he believed in, and what he wrote about. :+y husband
and I lived here, in Washington, D.C. together for over
ten years, from 1967 to 1978, and Henry and I nade many
friends here during those years. Yet though we made many
friends and acquaintances in government life, we never
thought that someday I would be testifying as a witness
here in the Congress, and we certainly never could have
anticipated what tragic circui.istances would bring me here.
First, I want to state that I am also here as a represen-
tative of The Committee to Obtain .T'istice for Henry Liu which
was oro-anized spontaneously by many of Henry's friends and
fellow journalists right after his death on October 15th,
1984. The Chairman of our Committee, Prof. Ling-Chi Wang,
and our attorney, Jerome M. Garchik, are with me here
today also on behalf of our Committee. Our Committee has
members now all across the United States, and it includes
many prominent journalists, intellectuals and community
leaders, some of whom did not know my husband personally,
but only knew and respected his work. Our Committee is not
a political comittee, but rather is a humanitarian and
civil rights group. The members and supporters hold
all different political viewpoints on issues of American
and Chinese questions, but they all share the same sense of
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page two
outrage and loss at the death of my husband, as well as the
same feelings of fear that his murder caused among Chinese
people of good will everywhere.
I believe that my husband was murdered on the orders of
high government officials of the Republic of China(Taiwan),
and that he was killed by them for a threefold purpose:
1) To punish him for writin' about the r_ulin7 Chiang family;
2) To prevent him from writing books and articles in the future
about the Chiang family, and their political and family history;
and 3) To scare other journalists and writers who might also
be interested as Henry was in writing about this family and
its history. My belief that this is why he was killed is
based on the following evidence, including the repeated
efforts of Taiwanese officials to bribe Henry not to
publish his book on President Chiang Ching-kuo, the sworn
confession of one of my husband's killers,Wu Tun, and on
the continuing efforts of the Taiwan Government to harm
my husband's reputation as a writer, now that he is dead,
and to cover-up all of the true facts about who in the
Taiwan Government ordered his murder and why.
Who Was Henrv Liu
Everyone who met my husband knew him to be an especially
talented and resourceful journalist. He was born on December
7,1932 in Jingjianp, Jiangsu, and grew up amidst the turmoil
nold
and chaos of war and revolution. When he was Sm years ,
his father fell victim to a Communist shooting. He was drafted
into the Nationalist(Kuomintang) Army when he was 16, and was
evacuated to Taiwan in 1949. During the 1950's he continued
his education, and attended a Defense Ministry School for
political cadres, run by Chiang Ching-kuo, son of President
Chiang Kai-shek. There, he met Chiang Kai-shek's other son,
General Chiang Wei-kuo, and General Wang Sheng.
My husband, however, didn't like a military career, and
wanted to be a journalist. First, he worked for a Government
radio program. Later, he became a reporter for the Taiwan
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page three
Daily News, which was published by Mr. Hsia Hsiao-hua who became
a mentor to Henry and helped his career along. I met Henry in
1962 when he had that job. Henry attended university courses
at night at National Chengchi University where I also was a
student. After the Taiwan Daily News sent him to cover a story
in Hongkong, Henry wrote a book about the island that was
published in Taipei. The newspaper later sent him to report on
Manila, and on the Vietnam War.Henry wrote his second book on
the Vietnam War and Souteast Asia, which was also published
in Taiwan.
Henry and I were married in 1967, and we moved to Washington,
D.C. when Henry was appointed correspondent for his newspaper.
In addition to writing for the paper, Henry took courses at
American University Graduate School, for a Masters De'ree,
and he worked as a part-time interpreter/escort for the
State Department. Henry stopped writing for the Taiwan Daily
News in 1979, and we both became U.S. Citizens in 1973.
Beginning at about that time, Henry wrote and published
at least 25 articles, essays and books on the ruling Chian-
family, its social and political history, and about several
political leaders closely associated with them over the
years. I have attached a bibliography of Henry's work during
this time. His articles were about Chiang Kai-shek, Mrs.
Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, Governor K.C.Wu (the
former mayor of Shanghai)& General Wang Sheng. When he died,
Henry was working on a biography of former Yunnan Province
Governor Long Yun, and had plans to write a full biography
of the political career of Governor F?u. In fact, Henry had
just signed a contract with the Wu family giving him exclusive
access to their extensive archives, shortly before he was
killed on October 15th, and some people feel that it was
official fear of this book that prompted Taiwan to order
Henry murdered.
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page four
Taiwan Censors Henry Liu
Henry began writing articles about the Chiang family in the
early 1970's as part of his graduate study work, and he arranged
for publication of some of this work in several Hongkong
magazines. Around that time he received a}etter from General
Wang Sherri the powerful head of Taiwanese ,
who told Henry to"take heed" of three things before he pub-
lished his biography of Chiang Ching-kuo. He was told to
consult with as many people as possible before publishing,
to think of what was good for Taiwan, and should "move
cautiously, and think twice," before publishing such a book.
As reported in a recently published letter Henry wrote to
a friend in Hongkong,
Henry wrote General Wang back bluntly
telling him: "I'm living in America and I am independent.
No one could tell me what I should write about"' This
correspondence with General Wang Sheng was in 1973.
Two years later, General Chian Kai-shek died, and his
son Chiang Ching-kuo became N aw-%"'Henry published three
articles on Chiang Ching-kuo in Hongkong that year. These
were collected and published in book form in Hongkong. In
1980, the book was translated without Henry's permission
into Japanese and published there.
The 1975 book covered the life of Chiang Ching-kuo only
through about 1949, and Henry was determined to bring it
up to date. He would also publish chapters or installments
in various magazines as they were completed, and hoped to
base his PhD. thesis at American University in Political
Science on this work.
Of course, the Taiwan Government was aware of Henry's
plans, since he did not keep any of it secret. In 1977 when
we still lived in Washington, D.C., Henry was approached
by Admiral Wang Shih-ling, who was then the military atache
at the Taiwanese Government Offices in Washington. Admiral
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page five
has since been dismissed, and arrested in Taipei
because of his involvement with Henry's death. In 1977,
Admiral Wang told my husband that he could write about
whatever he wanted to write about, but "not about the
Chiang family." Henry rebuffed him, and told him that this
was in fact "the only thing" he wanted to write about. Henry
also wrote to his friend in Hongkong about this conversation,
These warnings were not the only attempts to interfere
with Henry's work during the next few years. Henry told
of rumours that he would be paid $1 million if he would not
write his book on C.K.Chiang. Our friend, Van Lung said
recently that the Taiwanese had actually offered Henry
$40,000 to drop his plans to publish the book. A number
of money offers and approaches were made to Henry's
publisher, the American Tribune(Los Angeles) to get then
to back off plans to print the book.
Henry and hi.s publisher bravely rejected all of these
censorship attempts, and continued with their plans.
However, I believe that Henry was concerned about the
reaction of the Chiang family to his book and made several
efforts to show that he did not carry any personal
antagonism towards them. For example, when Henry went to
China in 1981 for reasearch on his book, he took photos of
Hsi-k'ou where C.K.Chiang has lived as a boy, and Henry
sent these to General Chiang Wei-kuo. Not long after, Henry
received letter from a friend of the General asking fori'l.
photos. So on his next trip to China,in
1982, Henry arranged with a Chinese film crew to take some
films of the Chiang family's house there. These he also sent
to the Chiang family, and received a letter of appreciation
in return.
As arrangements for the publication of Henry's book neared
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7, 1985
Page six
completion, Henry was approached once again by the Taiwan
Government regarding the book. This time, the approach was
made by Henry's old friend and mentor, Hsia lisiao-hua, the
publisher of Taiwan Daily News. Mr. Hsia was himself a former
military intelligence officer who still had close ties to
that agency. He came to California in December, 1983, and
told Henry he was there on behalf of
Admiral Ching Tzu-li, the Associate Director of Military
Intelligence, under Admiral Wang Shih-ling. He made a
personal appeal to Henry, based on their years of friendship
and their mentor/protege relationship, asking Henry to drop
a chapter from his book dealing with the family history of
the Chiangs, and to tone down the book's criticism of Chiang
rule on Taiwan. No money was offered at this time. In the
face of this personal appeal, Henry was unable to refuse
Mr. Hsia's request, because to do so would have been
an insult and disrespectful under Chinese culture and
tradition. So, Henry reluctantly agreed to Mr. Hsia's requests
and modified the book in this way, because he felt that
if he did this he could finally go ahead and safely publish
the book, which really was his lifework.
Henry believed that this was the case because Mr. Hsia
telephoned Henr f om Taiwan in ~~' 1984 and told him
that ii*Nil itarrw~&`"re happy about the changes and would
give Henry $20,000, to be paid in installments, to show their
gratitude. Of this money, Henry received $17,000 before he
died. Somehow, the F.B.I. found out about this and talked
to Henry about it only a week before he was killed. Another
strange fact is that just after Henry was killed, Mr. Esia's
friend in Military Intelligence, Adm. Ching Tzu-li was transfered
out of that job, to a job Mr. Hsia formerly held as head of the
Taiwanese propaganda radio station, Cheng Shen- (Rightous Sound)
Broadcasting.
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page seven
Who Killed My Husband and Why?
In late November of last year, the F.B.I. identified four
members of the United Bamboo Group, a large Mafia type organi-
zation, as the hit squad that murdered my husband. Last month,
the Taiwan Government identified four high level officers of
their own military intelligence agency as being involved in
Henry's death. Since then, a number of Chinese language news-
papers here, in Hongkong and in Taiwan have published reports
identifying other high military and Kounintang officials as
being involved in ordering Henry's murder.
I believe that my husband was killed by the Taiwan Government
because he was not just another journalist or writer. Many
people have compared Henry's work to that of William Shirer,
Theodore White and Louis Fischer. Henry's work was. widely
published and read all throughout Asia, in China, Japan,
Hongkong, and in Taiwan, despite repeated Government efforts
to suppress it.
Just a few months before Henry was killed, the Taiwanese
Government impounded and suppressed the entire printing of a
Taiwanese monthly publication, China Tide Review, which re-
printed Henry's interview with Governor K.C.Wu. After Henry was
killed, the Government suspended this magazine for one year
because it reported on Henry's death, and because it included
exerpts from his book on Chiang Ching-kuo. The Government has
also closed a weekly named Marching Forward which reported on
the killing. Many Chinese Americans also believe that Taiwan
officially interfered in the U.S. publication of China Times
and closed that newspaper because it fairly reported on Henry's
death.(See they of Henry's last letter, to Jack Anderson,
which he wrote regarding Taiwan's interference with the
editorial policy of China Times just before he was killed.)
Henry and I came to the United States because Henry could
not live under the policy of fear, censorship , and suppression
that prevails in Taiwan. Once he became a citizen, Henry believed
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Statement of Henry Liu February 7, 1985
Page eight
he would be free to write what he wanted, as he wanted, and
he told Taiwan's officials this on several ocassions.
Henry had the courage to write about the official family
of Taiwan when others did not. People who know China know
the passion for secrecy that surrounds the Chiang family.
Chiang Ching-kuo, who has been president of Taiwan for ?r`irl
"i years, has not even had an official biography published
about him, and Henry's book was the only reliable,documented,
and accurate book. Certainly it was a controversial and
critical book about Chiang Ching-kuo. For example, Henry
wrote that Chiang Ching-kuo was a secret instigator of the
May, 1957 burning of the U.S. Embassy in Taiwan, when a
U.S. Army court-martial released an Army Sargeant charged
with the murder of a Taiwanese national named Liu. This
little remembered "May 24th incident," and C.K.Chiang's
early Russian education, and pro-Soviet activities, do
not relect well upon Taiwan's President. Many people feel
that Henry's planned full biography of Governor Wu would
contain many more shocking and damaging revelations about
President Chiang and his family.
In his soon to be released book, The Soong Dynasty published
by Harper & Row, Sterling Seagrave has written about the attitude
of the Chiang family towards journalists and biographical writing,
and his comments give some insight into why my husband was killed:
"It is characteristic of the Chinese, rich and poor
to be reserved and private-even secretive. The Soongs
were the most Westernized of all Chinese,but the
appearance of openness and accessibility was merely
an acquired manner, not a total transformation. Close
associates could not penetrate this mask. Their
public image was enhanced and propagated by a legion
of publicists. The Chiang regime was known to have spent
hundreds of millions of dollars each year in the
1940s,1950s,and 1960s to guarantee its image in
America and thus,the continuance of the regime. At the
same time,the regime suppressed negative publicity;
for example,a critical biography of Chiang Kai-shek
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page nine
written by one of his ex-wives was purchased by Taiwan
authorities for a sum said to be in excess of $1 million,
and evidently was destroyed."
The Soong Dynasty (Harper & Row,1985) page 10.
Attached is the Daly City Police Affidavit charging Wu Tun
with my husband's murder, based on the police interrogation of
Wu Tun in Taipei on January 24,1985. In it Wu Tun confessed
that Chen Chi-li, the hit squad leader, asked him to help
"teach a lesson" to my husband, because Henry "had written
some bad things about Taiwan and its president."
On January 31,1985, a Taiwanese newspaper, "Fa-yang Weekly"
reported that in September, Chen Chi-li agreed with Taiwanese
officials to kill my husband after Admiral Wang Shih-ling mentioned
Henry's new book, and said that "A guy like Henry would have
been killed long ago if a Chief of Police like Dai Li were alive."
This report and others confirm the several contacts between Chen
Chi-li and several Taiwanese military intelligence officers,
some of whom are now under arrest in Taiwan, and confirm Chen
Chi-li would hide the true purpose of his trip to the U.S. by
holding a big reception in Houston,Texas ostensibly for the
purpose of honoring the U.S. publication of his gang's magazine,
Mai Wah Reports. This reception, held at a Chinese restauarnt
in Houston on September 25th, was attended by Liu En-Ti, the
Houston head of the Taiwan official office (C.C.N.A.), by
Chang Ning-chih, the Houston based head of the official Taiwanese
Press Bureau, and by Chang Hsueh-hai, the Secretary of the Committee
of Overseas Chinese in Houston, also an official of the Taiwan
Government.
The involvement of Government officials in my husband's
murder is not subject to any question at this time. for is the
true motive. The only questions remaining are whether all of the
people involved will be identified, and whether all of these will
really be punished for Henry's murder.
Is there a Political Cover-up of This Case?
I and the Committee fear that both Taiwan and the Reagan
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Statement of Helen Liu February 7,1985
Page ten
Administration will cover up the true story about my husband's
murder for political reasons, and to protect the high officials
who were really involved.
We have the following evidence of such a cover-up:
1. The refusal of Taiwan to extradite or deport all the
persons arrested for involvement in my husband's murder;
2. The failure of the Reagan Administration to publicly
denounce my husband's terrorist murder, or to insist upon
the delivery over of the killers to U.S. Justice;
3. The continued suppression and concealment of Chen Chi-li's
taped confession, which the F.B.I. has had for weeks, giving
rise to concern about a joint U.S.-Taiwan doctoring of this
taped confession; the growing conflicting newspaper reports
of drastically differing versions of this tape recording,
with a recently leaked one from Taipei alleging that Chen
Chi-li had no official support in this murder.
4. A cowardly campaign orchestrated from the Taiwan
Government to discredit Henry Liu by leaking alleged spy
letters, and spy rumours which have been given widespread
publicity in the press;
5. Recent intimidating approaches by the F.B,I. and Taiwan
Government officials to members of our Committee who were
suspected of writing about the Chen Chi-li tape recording,
or of having any information regarding this tape. In fact:
one of our committee members was threatened by a C.C.N.A.
official over this matter;
6. The refusal of the Justice Department to seek federal
civil rights indictments against any of the killers or their
sponsors, and the instructions of the F.B.I. and the Justice
Department to local law enforcement to limit their indictments,
and investigation away from Taiwan officials.
7. The failure of the federal F.B..I. and local investigative
team to interrogate the several Taiwanese officials arrested
in connection with this murder during their January trip to
Taipei;
8. Interference by C.C.N.A.officials with local law enforcement
and offering of gifts by the C.C.N.A. to local police;
9, Disturbing statements from local and federal law enforcement
that this case will soon be closed, without any U.S. or state
prosecutions or trials of anybody;
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Page eleven
10. The failure of the Taiwan Government to appoint
an independent Warren type commission or special prosecutor
such as was recently created in the Aquino case and in
Israel, to conduct a blue ribbon, bona fide investigation
into Taiwan's official involvement in this crime. Instead,
Taiwan has only entrusted the investigation of the crime
to another military intelligence official, Gen.Wang Ching-hsi,
who himself has been identified in at least onenews report
of having approved the murder of Henry Liu in advance.
(Formosan Weekly, Los Angeles).
11. The State Department recently stated that
they would rather this whole incident and all of its details
be kept quiet for twenty years, because of the political
repercussions of the identification of government officials
in Henry Liu's murder;
12. The failure of U.S. authorities to arrange for the
arrest and surrender of Tung Kuei-shen, aka Little Tung
who is in hiding in the Philippine Islands, and who is
rumoured to wish to surrender to the U.S.Published
reports state that Tung fears he will be assassinated
by Taiwanese agents, and would only feel safe in U.S.
hands.
I and the Committee to Obtain Justice for Henry Liu are not
pleased with the conduct of the U.S. Government so far in this
case. We have found a profound historic precedent against which
we can measure the U.S. official response to Henry Liu's death,
and against which the U.S. response is found wanting. Almost
a hundred years ago, a mob of American miners killed twenty
eight Chinese miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Unlike the
conduct of our Government in this case, the Chinese Government
then made vigorous protests on behalf of its murdered subjects.
As a result, this Congress, in 1887,voted an indemnity to the
families of the murdered Chinese, totaling $147,000.
Since my husband's death, I have received no words of
condolence or regret from any representative of the Taiwan
Government,desDite the admitted involvement of Taiwan officials
in his murder. On the contrary, that Government has only acted
coldly and insolently, in a manner which is unacceptable under
both Chinese and American customs. It is disheartening to me,
as Henry Liu's widow, to my Committee members, and,I believe,
to the American public, that our Government has taken this
rude and insolent behavior from Taiwan, without any public
reproval. I and the Committee appeal to you, the Congress,
to express a sincere and stronger response to the killers and
their sponsors in official places in Taiwan; we appeal to you
to help us obtain Justice for my murdered husband, Henry Liu'
Thank you.
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