National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (
After being sealed off to the public since Thursday, the Democracy Hall made its official debut at 10am yesterday, with its newly decorated arch and brand-new name plaque.
Ministry of Education Secretary-General Chuang Kuo-jung (莊國榮), who oversaw the project, said the renaming of an area that was originally designed to worship dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was long overdue.
PHOTO: CNA
"Foreign tourists can now truly experience Taiwan's transitional justice," he said.
The renaming project was part of the administration's push to purge the nation of all remnants of Chiang. In March, Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu (
Chuang said no decision had been made yet on the 6.3m statue of Chiang inside the hall or the signature blue-trimmed white wall surrounding the 240,000m2 park. However, there has been talk of relocating the statue and demolishing the wall.
One elderly woman, who identified herself as Wang, bemoaned the government's hasty decision to rename the site, but said it would not deter her from doing her daily exercises at the plaza.
One supporter said that renaming the plaza "Liberty Square" was most fitting because it symbolized that the nation had been "completely liberated from the grasp of the evil Chiang regime."
Several Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers went to the ministry yesterday morning to commend Chuang for his leadership in overseeing the project.
Chuang has become a household name because of his snappy comebacks and caustic remarks about the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its top leaders, including calling presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) "sissies," "gay-like" and "wimps."
Chuang also ignored Taipei City's Department of Labor's lawsuit against him and the ministry for allegedly vandalizing a historic site, saying he had nothing to fear because he did not break the law by following an order from the Council of Cultural Affairs.
Earlier yesterday, Su Ying-kuei (
Su said the city government had sent an official document on Thursday urging the ministry to "improve the scaffolding" covering the hall and to halt further work.
However, the ministry resumed work on the hall without obtaining the city government's go-ahead, Su told reporters.
Su said the city government had filed lawsuits against Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝), Chuang and other personnel involved in removing the inscription from the gateway on charges of interference with official business and violation of the Criminal Code.
"The Taipei City Government will never allow anyone to override the law. We will punish anyone who disregards the law," Su said.
"We hope everyone can understand that no one can override the law, not even the president," he said.
While Su was speaking, some visitors to the hall applauded him while those others urged him to stop talking.
In related developments, KMT Spokeswoman Chen Shu-jung (
"If we really have to play mean tricks, I can just go on and say Chuang is not `man' enough, but this is meaningless," she said.
"I I believe we need to stop the wrangling and get down to business," she said.
In other news, Wang Jui-chang (王瑞璋), the ETTV cameraman who was badly injured last Thursday when a truck plowed into a group of journalists covering a protest at the memorial, underwent multiple surgeries yesterday at National Taiwan University Hospital.
Hospital spokesman Lin Chih-chang (林繼昌) said the surgery went smoothly and Wang would be in intensive care overnight.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by