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.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS