About 75 percent of Taiwanese recognize the contributions former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) made to the nation, according to a survey conducted by the National Development Council.
According to the poll, 74 percent of respondents said they agree that Chiang made great contributions by initiating 10 major construction projects, lifting martial law and the bans on newspapers and political parties, and planning for the re-election of the legislature and the direct election of local government heads.
Chiang also pushed for allowing Taiwanese to visit their relatives in China, ushering in a new era in cross-strait ties.
The survey also found that 75 percent of respondents did not know that an auditorium inside the Presidential Office Building was named “Ching-kuo Hall” on March 29.
About 47 percent said that the name is appropriate and 24 percent said that it is inappropriate, while 29 percent said they had no opinion on the issue.
About 55 percent said that the naming of the hall is aimed at commemorating the contributions made by Chiang, while 21 percent said that it was a decision made for ideological reasons.
The poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday and collected 1,086 valid samples, with a margin of error of 2.97 percentage points.
Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) son Chiang Ching-kuo took over the presidency in 1978 and remained in power until his death in 1988.
Although Chiang Ching-kuo ended the 38-year-long Martial Law era in 1987, authoritarian rule persisted under his tenure.
However, he gradually allowed democratic reforms in his later years. He carried out a policy known as Chui Tai Ching (吹台青) in the mid-1980s — recruiting young local politicians to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and local governments, which were dominated by Mainlanders.
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