Chiangs will be returned to home in China: family

The mausoleums of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), will be moved to their hometown in Zhejiang Province, China, Chiang Ching-kuo's daughter-in-law, Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡), said yesterday.

One day before the official closing of the Tzuhu Presidential Burial Place (慈湖陵寢) in Taoyuan County, Chiang Fang Chih-yi said the family had reached a consensus on sending the remains of the two men back to China according to Chiang Ching-kuo's wishes, rather than relocating the remains to the Wuchihshan Military Cemetery (五指山軍人公墓) in Taipei County as the family had previously requested the government do.

"Both my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law wished to return to their hometown peacefully and we will respect their wishes," Chiang Fang Chih-yi said yesterday at Tzuhu. "It doesn't mean that they don't love this country, [for] they dedicated their whole lives to serving this country. If the government refuses to take care of them, we will take over."

When Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, his remains were placed in a temporary mausoleum at Tzuhu, in Taoyuan County's Dasi Township (大溪), until such time as it could be returned to China for burial. The body of Chiang Ching-kuo, who died in 1988, was placed in a mausoleum in Touliao (頭寮), not far from his father's mausoleum.

When the two mausoleums closed at 5pm yesterday, the military removed 80 honor guards and military police stationed at Chiang Kai-shek's mausoleum, with another 35 at Chiang Ching-kuo's.

Both mausoleums will be closed from today until Sunday.

The Dasi Mausoleum Administration, which falls under the Ministry of National Defense, said the shutdown allowed an inventory of the assets and artifacts before turning them over to the Taoyuan County Government.

County government officials have said that after they take over the management of the mausoleums, more cultural elements would be added to make them even more attractive to visitors.

Visitors swarmed the mausoleums over the weekend to pay their respects and see the last performance of the guards of honor stationed at the sites.

Vice director of Chiang Kai-shek's mausoleum, Wang Chang-chieh (王昌杰), told reporters that more than 50,000 people visited the mausoleums yesterday.

Chiang Fang Chih-yi yesterday dismissed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accusations of the management of the mausoleums as a waste of national resources and money, urging the government to pay more respect to the two leaders.

The government urged the Chiang family to address the relocation of the tombs after it decided to redeploy the guards at Tzuhu Presidential Burial Place.

The government said that in January 2004, Faina Chiang (蔣方良) -- Chiang Ching-kuo's wife -- asked the Ministry of National Defense to arrange for the interment of the two men.

The interment was scheduled for September and the government earmarked NT$39 million (US$1.2 million) to be spent on the project.

More than NT$27 million was spent on the construction of a tomb at the Wuchihshan Military Cemetery.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said earlier this month that the military guards posted at the mausoleums would be withdrawn early next year.

Chen said there was no justification for using taxpayers' money to guard a dictator's mausoleum.

In response to Chiang Fang Chih-yi's remark yesterday that the family now intended to move the bodies of the Chiangs to their hometown in China, Chen yesterday lambasted the family for making fools of the Taiwanese government and people.