The removal of statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from school campuses in Tainan has elicited the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ire, but Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday proposed removing all statues of Chiang nationwide and replacing the former president’s image on coins and the NT$200 bill.
The Tainan City Government took action on Saturday after Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) called for the removal of all statues of Chiang from school campuses in the city.
Following KMT Tainan city councilors’ denunciation yesterday of the removals, the KMT legislative caucus also took Lai to task for “taking down the statues sneakily at night during the weekend,” urging Lai to “stop manufacturing hatred.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
KMT deputy caucus whip Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) said schools are supposed to be autonomous on this issue and there are different perspectives from which historical figures are assessed.
“History is history; education is education,” Liao said, adding that the educational environment should not be marred by historical controversy.
KMT Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) called Lai’s order to remove the statues without consulting school principals, teachers or parents an “authoritarian” move.
In stark contrast to the KMT, Yao, who also held a press conference yesterday, called for an expansion of Lai’s policy to a complete sweeping away of statues of Chiang nationwide.
Yao showed copies of court verdicts on which Chiang had added his own comments and altered the sentences to executions.
It would be shameful for Taiwan if it did not remove the statues and currency commemorating a dictator, Yao said.
He voiced his support for Lai’s removal of the statues, calling it the beginning of a move to end hatred and proposed moving the largest statue of Chiang in Taipei, the one at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, to the Cihu Mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪區).
“It’s not like we are throwing it into the ocean; those who wish to pay tribute to him can still visit Cihu,” Yao said, adding that the memorial hall without the statue could be transformed into a branch of the National Palace Museum to help solve the museum’s overcrowding problem.
Yao also proposed having the NT$1, NT$5 and NT$10 coins and the NT$200 bill, which all have an image of Chiang on them, recalled and replaced.
Chiang’s image on the money should be replaced by that of people who would help society better understand Taiwan’s democratic history, such as Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波), a renowned Taiwanese painter executed by the KMT regime in 1947, or Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who in 1989 set himself ablaze to protest against the regime’s repression of freedom of speech, Yao said.
Chuang Chu Yu-nu (莊朱玉女), a woman who sold meals for NT$10 for decades to help low-income families, who passed away earlier this month, would also be an option, Yao said.
A Department of Issuing official at the central bank, who declined to be named, said yesterday that the bank has no comment on the issue.
Additional reporting by Amy Su
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS