TSU raises hackles with proposal to rename museum

In a move bound to raise eyebrows, the TSU yesterday proposed renaming the National Palace Museum as the Formosa Museum to give the establishment a local identity.

The suggestion drew immediate criticism from other parties, including the ruling DPP, whose lawmakers said the proposal would do nothing to help the Taiwanization movement.

During an interview with reporters, TSU legislative whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said he will seek support this week for his bill to rename the museum -- a bid designed to distinguish the compound from the National Palace Museum in Beijing.

"As both sides have a National Palace Museum, the suggested name change can help end confusion between the two," Lo said.

The TSU whip added that the ongoing effort to remake the government created an opportunity for implementing his proposal.

The museum in Taipei ranks as one of the best museums in the world, in a class with the Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum. It holds around 700,000 artifacts, the vast majority of which are from the private collections of China's emperors.

DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) dismissed the latest TSU brainchild as a meaningless political gambit to distort historical fact.

Wang said there is no need to deny the Chinese origin of the museum and its treasures since they are the historic product of cross-strait entanglement.

"If we refuse to recognize that reality, we might as well return those artifacts [to China]," Wang said.

Years ago, Beijing criticized Taipei for "stealing" the treasures and demanded their return. Taiwan's government responded by saying the artifacts would not have survived the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, when unruly Red Guards swept across China, destroying temples, antiques and other reminders of the "bourgeois" past.

PFP legislative leader Diane Lee (李慶安) compared the proposed name change to an ongoing effort to erase Chinese attributes from the country's history and culture.

"We must not take the issue lightly as the museum and its collections represent the essence of 5,000 years of Chinese history," Lee said.

She also questioned the government's suggestion of placing the museum under the supervision of the Presidential Office instead of the Cabinet.

Lee said she is worried that, without legislative oversight, dishonest officials may steal the treasures, as happened at the end of the Ching Dynasty.