Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) yesterday apologized to political victims, their families and artist Yu Wen-fu (游文富) over the controversy arising from the council's public art exhibition at the Jingmei Human Rights Culture Park.
“On behalf of the CCA, I would like to offer my apologies to the political victims and their families,” Sheng told a press conference. “If we had asked for more public input and had been more careful and considerate, we would not have organized the exhibition at such a sensitive location.”
“There was no political motive behind the display of these artworks, and we did not expect it to cause controversy,” he said.
The public art installation opened at the Jingmei Park last month to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident. The Kaohsiung Incident refers to the mass demonstration in 1979 against the authoritarian rule of the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime that later turned violent. Leaders of the demonstration, including former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), were arrested and prosecuted for crimes against the state.
The Jingmei Human Rights Culture Park was selected as the site for the exhibition because it was the former site of a military prison where political dissidents were detained, tried and imprisoned.
However, an artwork by Yu displayed outside the cell where Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, stayed when he was placed under house arrest upset Shih’s wife, Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), who said the artwork sought to glorify Wang.
Wang was placed under house arrest for ordering the 1984 assassination of Taiwanese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) at his home in San Francisco after Liu wrote a biography critical of then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). Wang was arrested after international pressure on the KMT to take action.
Chen first attacked the artwork last month when the exhibition opened, and then spread red paint on the work earlier this month.
It was not the first time that the council's handling of the former military prison had caused controversy.
Last year, its plan to drop the term “human rights” from the park’s name and rename it a “culture park” also drew strong criticism. The council later compromised by calling it a “human rights culture park.”
Asked by reporters whether the council would consider turning the park back into a human rights memorial in the future after all the controversy surrounding it, Sheng said it could be an option.
“We plan to hold public hearings to hear more opinions, look more into the history that the site represents and then carefully plan the future of the park,” he said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard