The High Court on Monday ordered the National Security Bureau (NSB) to return a tract of land on Yangmingshan (陽明山) to the descendants of its original owner, Chang Wen-cheng (張文政).
The court ordered the National Property Administration to oversee the return of about 3,000 ping (9,917m2) of land to the Chang family. The ruling put the NSB in a tight spot as almost 60 percent of its office complex — including the courtyard and the garden — are on the said piece of land, which is valued at about NT$300 million (US$9.18 million).
The office complex is on Yangde Boulevard, which is the main access road up the mountain to Yangmingshan National Park.
Huang Wei-cheng (黃偉政), director of the National Property Administration’s northern region branch, argued against the decision yesterday, saying that the plaintiff, Chang Hua-chang (張華昌), son of Chang Wen-cheng, is not a Republic of China citizen, as he had spent most of his life in China, and only recently filed the paperwork to inherit his father’s property.
Huang said that according to the law, the family relinquished inheritance claims to Chang Wen-cheng’s land holdings, which became state property. He said he would appeal the court ruling.
The litigation also revealed the striking story of Chang Wen-cheng, who was evidently sent on covert missions to China by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the Cold War.
According to the court’s findings, the Chang family had owned the land for generations and Chang Wen-cheng went to Japan to train as a doctor during the Japanese colonial period.
Upon returning to Taiwan in the 1940s, he joined the army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel as a medical officer. In 1948, the Taiwanese military assigned him on espionage missions in China’s northeast provinces, and Chang took his immediate family to live in China.
A few years later, Chang Wen-cheng was exposed as a spy and was arrested by Chinese officials. Chang died in a prison in China in 1972.
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