It is inappropriate to include former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) in Academia Historica’s list of the 100 “most influential” people in the history of the Republic of China (ROC), the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday.
The list is part of a series of activities surrounding the centenary of the ROC next year.
Shortly after the ministry criticized Deng’s inclusion, Academia Historica removed him and Deng’s predecessor, former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), from the online list. Before his removal, Mao was No. 3 in the running for top political leader, ahead of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM THE ACADEMIA HISTORICA WEB SITE
The salvo came after KMT -Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) revealed that Deng, a former chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), appeared in the list under the rubric military figures.
The inclusion, Deputy Minister of National Defense Chao Shih-chang (趙世璋) said later in the day, was evidently “inappropriate.”
Academia Historica vice president Chu Chung-sheng (朱重聖) said the presence of Deng, who was also paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China, in the military category — alongside figures such as Lee Tsung-jen (李宗仁), who served as vice president and acting president of the ROC under the 1947 Constitution, General Zhang Xueliang (張學良), former governor of Taiwan Province Chen Cheng (陳誠) and General Yen Hsi-shan (閻錫山), a former premier under the KMT regime — was “not ideal.”
Deng never really served in a military capacity, Chu said.
However, during the war of resistance against Japan, Deng led areas of resistance behind enemy lines in northern China, which qualified him for the title, Chu said, adding that the campaign of -resistance against imperial forces had been arduous.
Chu said the manner in which the categories were defined could lead to misunderstandings and that Academia Historica would take immediate steps to rectify the problem.
Chou said during a Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting at the legislature that the list was divided into eight categories, for individuals who had made contributions to politics, economics, military affairs, diplomacy, society, religious affairs, academics and the arts.
Deng, he said, was currently at the top of the military category.
Asked by Chou for his views on Deng’s making it to the top of the military category, Chao said this was inappropriate.
Wang Ming-wo (王明我), head of the ministry’s General Political Warfare Bureau, said Academia Historica had not consulted the ministry on the matter and added that the the ministry would look into the issue.
Chou, who said he had asked many senior military figures about the list, added that every one of them had expressed surprise. He asked the ministry and Academia Historica to discuss the matter.
Academia Historica’s list of the 100 most influential individuals in the ROC is available at www.drnh.gov.tw:8080/.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the