Following the decapitation of statues of former President Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker yesterday said he has drafted a bill that would repurpose the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) Memorial Hall and relocate all the nation’s Chiang statues.
DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said that he would today begin seeking endorsements from other lawmakers for the bill, which would see the abolishment of the Organization Act of National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Management Office (國立中正紀念堂管理處組織法).
The proposal seeks to shutter the memorial hall to remove all symbols associated with Chiang and then refurbish it for other purposes, and the relocation of all Chiang statues nationwide to Chiang’s mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪).
Photo: CNA
“Statues [of Chiang] are the final remnant of the [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] authoritarian regime, which has to be removed if a full-fledged democracy is to be realized,” Yao said
Yao, who has also advocated the phasing out of coins featuring Chiang’s portrait, said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would be blamed if the hall is not closed in the near future.
“It is the government’s fault that different groups in society have taken to engaging in vandalism,” Yao said, referring to the statue decapitations.
Hatta was a renowned civil engineer who built major irrigation systems in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. A statue of him was beheaded in Tainan earlier this month, allegedly by a former Taipei City councilor linked to a pro-unification group, as an act of revenge against the beheading of Chiang statues.
The vandalism has sparked a heated debate along political and ethnic lines about the legacy of the KMT government and the Japanese colonial era.
Retired army lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), who was at the center of a scandal involving retired generals participating in a political event in Beijing, said that the government’s acquiescence in the vandalizing of Chiang statues and its “honoring of Japanese” would intensify problems between ethnic groups, and “people would be prompted to vandalize totems of Japan.”
“It is because transitional justice has not been fully implemented that people are making such threats,” Yao said. “The last mile of transitional justice is the removal of authoritarian symbols. The government has to remove all those symbols to prevent conflicts.”
Meanwhile, in an apparent dig at Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who has voiced opposition to proposals to remove Chiang symbols, Yao said there are still 47 Chiang statues in Taipei, which should be removed immediately.
Ko’s suggestion that past conflicts should be put aside in pursuit of a common future demonstrates his ignorance of history, as the commemoration of Chiang was institutionalized through abuse of power, and authoritarianism should be expunged from society, Yao said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
RSS