The Taipei City Government would not follow Tainan in removing Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) statues, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
“Keeping Chiang statues in place does not mean spiritual surrender, but the fact that we can finally overcome history and be our own masters,” he said yesterday at a convention at his alma mater, National Hsinchu Senior High School.
“Personally speaking, I would avoid provoking confrontation in Taipei, and I would keep the statues as evidence of history,” the Taipei mayor added.
Ko made the remarks when responding to questions from the media, after Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said on Friday that he is considering the establishment of a task force to remove statues and busts of Chiang from school campuses in the city, amid protests targeting the statues across the nation.
Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) agreed with Ko, saying: “I would not remove or relocate Chiang statues in Keelung, as those statues hardly mean anything today, and it is unnecessary to provoke radicalization by foregrounding any specific ideology.”
However, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said that statues of Chiang at Taoyuan’s public offices and school campuses would be relocated to a park attached to the Chiang’s mausoleum in the Dasi District (大溪), turning them into tourist attractions instead of political totems.
“Statues of Chiang and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), are symbols of the bygone authoritarian rule, and there is no reason to continue idolizing dictators today,” Cheng said.
“The statues would not be removed immediately, we would wait until public facilities are renovated,” Cheng added.
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the government has to undertake the de-deification of Chiang to facilitate transitional justice, while establishing a historical perspective centered on Taiwanese.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu, front, grabs the pennant in a dragon boat race hosted by Qu Yuan Temple in the Shuanghsi River in Taipei’s Beitou District yesterday.
RSS