President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would consider moving the Presidential Office, currently housed in a building occupied by the Japanese governor-general during the colonial period, to Guandu (關渡), on the outskirts of Taipei City, as a symbolic gesture liberating the country from its colonial past.
Ma made the comments during a visit to Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明), chairman of the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University.
Ma responded positively to Chen’s advice that transitional justice should also deal with historical issues from the Japanese colonial period and that the previous office of the Japanese governor-general should not continue to serve as the Presidential Office.
Chen quoted Ma as saying that he had already begun considering the issue of moving the Presidential Office when he was Taipei mayor, with Guandu as one of the options.
Chen, a former director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Culture and Information, said that shedding light on Taiwanese history during the Japanese occupation should also be part of transitional justice and suggested that the current building housing the Presidential Office be turned into a museum of history.
“I support Ma’s plan, and I am glad that he is willing to handle the issue of the history and legacy of the colonial period. I also have no doubts about Ma’s determination to be a president for all people,” Chen said after their 80-minute meeting at the university.
Ma and Chen’s discussion echoed National Taiwan University professor Hsia Chu-chiu’s (夏鑄九) comments earlier this week that a national leader in a democratic country should not use a building that had once housed the Japanese governor.
Chen said the two did not discuss a detailed timeline of relocating the Presidential Office.
The Presidential Office, located on Ketagalan Boulevard, was built by the Japanese during the colonial period. It became the Presidential Office in 1950 after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retreated to Taiwan.
Tuo Chung-hwa (脫宗華), deputy director of Taipei City’s Urban Planning Department, said Guandu had no building that could serve as an appropriate Presidential Office, adding that rezoning, reallocating and redistributing the land alone would take at least a year.
Ma’s meeting with Chen was part of his advice-seeking tour following his victory in last month’s presidential election.
After the meeting, Ma lauded Chen for being one of the most influential figures in localization rhetoric and said he shared Chen’s opinion on localization and transitional justice.
Chen said he continues to support DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and called on Ma to push harder for social reconciliation.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun
RSS