China Unification Promotion Party member Lee Cheng-lung (李承龍) yesterday admitted being involved in the decapitation of a bronze statue of Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta in Tainan on Sunday.
Police said video surveillance in the area appeared to place the former Taipei city councilor and a woman identified as Chiu Chin-i (邱晉芛) at the Yoichi Hatta Memorial Park (八田與一紀念園區).
A Taiwan Chia-Nan Irrigation Association member yesterday said he recalled seeing a man and a woman “playing” with the statue’s head at about 5am on Sunday while he was exercising in the park near Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫), which Hatta is credited with building.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
He said he felt the situation was odd, but continued to exercise before deciding to call park personnel an hour later.
He said he could not positively identify the pair except to say it was a “woman with long hair and a tall, skinny man.”
Police said video surveillance was not very clear given the 50m distance between the statue and the nearest security camera.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Lee and Chiu yesterday turned themselves in at Taipei’s Zhongzheng First Precinct at 1pm, and were later handed over to investigators in Tainan.
Chiu, who goes by the nickname White Jasmine, is a member of the Chinese Unionist Party.
Three Facebook posts by Lee on Sunday appear to implicate him in the crime, police said.
One advertised the auction of an electric saw that was “used only once,” while a second said: “I will not conceal it from everyone, it was me who did it … Lee Cheng-lung!”
He later posted that he had been invited to “take a day trip to Tainan and have coffee” with the police.
Association officials said they are working to have the statue repaired.
Police said Lee and Chiu are known to them for their regular participation in protest activities, noting that they were prosecuted over an arson and vandalism case at the Taoyuan headquarters of the Taiwan Civil Government group in July last year.
Lee was also involved in a dispute with pro-independence supporters at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on 228 Memorial Day during which he hit a police officer, the police said.
Greeted by reporters when he arrived at the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Tainan Station at 5pm yesterday, Lee was asked how long he had planned the attack on Hatta’s statue.
“I planned it for many years,” he said. “What should be done must be done.”
Asked where the statue’s head was, he said: “It is in Taiwan.”
The statue was commissioned by area residents and aides who worked under Hatta on the construction of a series of canals in the Chianan Plain (嘉南平原) and the reservoir. It was created by Japanese sculptor Yuma Tsukada and shipped to Taiwan in 1931.
In 1941, local residents decided to hide the statue because they feared the Japanese colonial government would want to melt it down for the bronze. They continued to hide it after the war for fear the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government might destroy it for political reasons.
They did not uncover it until 1981.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique