The Ministry of Culture yesterday said it is working on a bill to reinvent the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) Memorial Hall, which, if passed, would see the Taipei landmark renamed and most, if not all, of the authoritarian symbols associated with Chiang removed.
“We all know that the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was built during the nation’s authoritarian era to commemorate a dictator,” Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) told a Taipei news conference to outline the ministry’s work to promote transitional justice.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident and the 30th anniversary of the lifting of martial law. In order to come to terms with history and the damage done, and to pay respect to human rights, we believe that it is necessary to reinvent the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall,” she said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The ministry is working on a draft amendment to the Organization Act of National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Management Office (國立中正紀念堂管理處組織法), which is to be reviewed by the Cabinet and the legislature, she said, adding that the ministry hopes the draft can be passed into law within the next six months, during the upcoming legislative session.
The ministry this month pulled merchandise bearing Chiang’s portraits — including figurines, stationery and accessories — from souvenir stores in the building, Cheng said.
The merchandise can still be bought elsewhere, but it would no longer be manufactured, Cheng said.
Photo: CNA
The ministry has restored the names of exhibition halls and performance venues that were later named after Chiang and his relatives, because the original titles were more generic and thus are not viewed as authoritarian symbols, she said.
For example, the Jie Shi Exhibition Hall, whose title adopted an alternative version of Chiang’s name, was seen yesterday to have regained its original title: “The Second Exhibition Hall.”
Broadcasts of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Song — played twice a day as the hall opens and closes — are to be replaced by announcements informing visitors of the facility’s opening hours, Cheng said.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
The ministry this month assembled a panel of experts and academics to assess its plans to repurpose the edifice and gather public opinion on the issue, she said.
In response to media queries over whether the building would be renamed the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, a name proposed by the Ministry of Education in 2007, Cheng said the title is being considered by the ministry, adding that the act must be amended before the building’s name can be officially changed.
She reiterated the necessity of amending the act when asked whether exhibits and artifacts associated with Chiang would be removed from the building, as the act stipulates that work to archive and maintain artifacts related to Chiang be performed by the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Management Office.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
Asked whether statues and busts of Chiang would be removed and the daily ceremony of military police changing shifts stopped, Cheng said the issues would be decided after consulting public opinion.
The ministry seeks to transform the building into a facility promoting art and culture, she said.
Northern Taiwan Society chairman Chang Yeh-shen (張葉森) yesterday lauded the ministry’s proposal as “belated justice,” adding that without taking the step of tackling the issues concerning the memorial hall, any talk of implementing transitional justice is worthless.
Additional reporting by Su Fang-ho and Abraham Gerber
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS