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.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
DANGEROUS DRIVERS: The proposal follows a fatal incident on Monday involving a 78-year-old driver, which killed three people and injured 12 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said it would lower the age for elderly drivers to renew their license from 75 to 70 as part of efforts to address safety issues caused by senior motorists. The new policy was proposed in light of a deadly incident on Monday in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽), in which a 78-year-old motorist surnamed Yu (余) sped through a school zone, killing three people and injuring 12. Last night, another driver sped down a street in Tainan’s Yuching District (玉井), killing one pedestrian and injuring two. The incidents have sparked public discussion over whether seniors
RSS