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Chiang grandson against president role at reburial

"The KMT and the Chiangs are rich. There is no need for people to assume the costs of managing the mausoleum. The Chiangs can afford to hire security personnel to take care of that."

Frank Hsieh, DPP presidential candidate

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), the grandson of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), said yesterday that he was opposed to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) hosting the burial of his grandfather and father, should their tombs finally be relocated.

John Chiang made the comments yesterday in response to remarks by Chen, who while campaigning for a group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidates in Taipei on Friday night said the military guards posted at the mausoleums of Chiang Kai-shek and his son, late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), would be withdrawn early next year.

Chen said he hoped the mausoleums would soon be relocated, as previously requested by the Chiang family.

The embalmed body of Chiang Kai-shek was put in a temporary mausoleum in Tzuhu (慈湖), while Chiang Ching-kuo's is in Touliao (頭寮), Taoyuan County.

Both were temporarily housed on Taiwan awaiting a proper burial in their hometown in Zhejiang Province, southeastern China, after the KMT's hoped-for return to power in China.

The Chiang family made a request to the military in 2004 that the bodies be transferred to a military cemetery at Wuchih Mountain (五指山), Taipei County, where another of Chiang Kai-shek's sons, general Weigo Chiang (蔣緯國), is buried, along with other military officers.

The Ministry of National Defense has set up a Tzuhu Touliao mausoleum management office, with more than 100 employees and soldiers to ensure security at the mausoleums.

The management of the mausoleums at Tzuhu and Touliao costs more than NT$10 million annually.

With the removal of the guards from the mausoleums, the office would also be disbanded, the ministry said.

Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said the government had completed the planning for the reburial as per the Chiang family's request, but failed to make the move because of dissent from some family members.

Chien said the ministry would communicate with the Chiang family and seek to reach an agreement on the burial.

John Chiang said yesterday the plan at the time was based on the assumption that the KMT would win the 2004 presidential election.

Saying the political situation could change after the presidential election next year, John Chiang said the relocation of the tombs could then make more progress.

KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday shrugged off Chen's pledge to move the tombs.

"President Chen will be stepping down soon. It's not necessary to take his words too seriously," Ma said when campaigning for party legislator John Chiang in Taipei.

At a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said he supported Chen's proposal.

"The Chiang mausoleums have received the protection of the state. Many people have disagreed with this and many taxpayers have complained," Hsieh said while campaigning in Yunlin County.

"The KMT and the Chiangs are rich. There is no need for people to assume the costs of managing the mausoleums. The Chiangs can afford to hire security personnel to take care of that," he said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan, Luo Tien-bin and staff writer
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