The name plaque at National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall will be removed and replaced with the original Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall plaque by the end of July, Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said yesterday.
Lu told a press conference at the ministry that the decision was in accordance with the law and resolutions passed by the Legislative Yuan.
Lu was referring to the Cabinet’s scrapping of a draft National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall organic act on Aug. 22 and the legislature’s agreement on Dec. 4 that the government withdraw a proposal to abolish the Organic Act of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂組織條例).
The legislature also resolved during its review of the central government’s fiscal budget request for this year that “the name of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall should be changed to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.”
A resolution passed by the legislature on Tuesday last week said the ministry should replace the name plaque at the main building of the hall as soon as possible.
In 2007, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration renamed the memorial as part of a campaign to rename monuments and places that honored dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
The move was controversial in part because the changes were made without legislative approval. The replacement of the plaque at the hall led to scuffles between pan-blue and pan-green supporters, leaving a TV cameraman seriously injured.
“The ministry will first submit a plan for the name change and reuse [of the plaque] to the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Taipei City Government in accordance with the Cultural Assets Protection Act (文化資產保護法) and related regulations,” Lu said.
Changing the plaque is expected to cost about NT$1 million (US$29,700), he said.
Lu said that although Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) said in August last year that the ministry would not change the plaque unless a public forum organized by the ministry reached a consensus in favor of the change, no public forum was arranged.
Lu said this was because the majority of experts invited to a separate forum on educational issues felt that a forum gauging public opinion on the plaque change could increase tensions between supporters of different political parties.
“As for the ‘Liberty Square’ inscription at the entrance to the hall, no changes will be made to it since the square plays an important role in Taiwan’s democratic and cultural development,” Lu said.
The inscription will remain unchanged “so that [the public] can keep a shared memory of the development,” Lu said.
Lu said the honorary guard performances previously held at the memorial hall would also resume on Saturday at the suggestion of “tourism businesses, elected representatives and the public.”
“The ministry is a government branch and should do things in accordance with the law. The ministry has done its best to make the most appropriate decision and drawn up detailed plans [regarding the plaque change] to maintain social harmony. We hope this will put an end to the controversy and that the matter will not cause more fighting among members of the public,” Lu said, adding that the ministry’s decision would stand up to scrutiny.
When asked how the ministry would prevent possible tensions as a result of the plaque change, Lu called on the public to be “tolerant” and refrain from engaging in clashes over the change.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by