Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that he would not order that statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) nationwide be removed.
Lai said he understood that the Ministry of National Defense and the Veterans Affairs Council have an emotional bond with Chiang’s statues, and that they have a different meaning for retired and active soldiers than they do for students.
The premier made the remarks at a question-and-answer session in the legislature, where Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) asked him how he would deal with the statues.
Lai, during his time as Tainan mayor, made an effort to remove all of Chiang’s statues in the city, Fai said, asking whether he would order central government agencies to remove Chiang’s statues nationwide now that he is premier.
Lai said he would not.
Fai also asked Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬), Veterans Affairs Council Deputy Minister Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) whether they would remove Chiang’s statues at military camps, veterans’ retirement homes and schools.
Feng said that he had not received any instructions to remove the statues since he took office.
To veterans who fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War or the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan with the KMT, Chiang was like a father figure, so the statues at veterans’ homes should stay, Lee said.
As schools are autonomous, they have the right to decide how to address the matter, Pan said.
Schools should decide whether to retain Chiang’s statues by engaging in a thorough discussion with teachers and students, he added.
Lai said that he respected the Veterans Affairs Council’s decision, adding that neither he nor President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had given any instructions about removing the statues.
Meanwhile, Feng said there has been no changes to the military’s plan to continue the voluntary recruitment scheme.
KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) asked Feng on what conditions would the government reinstate conscription to ensure national security, and whether the ministry was confident it could continue its all-voluntary military service system next year.
Feng said recruitment numbers have gradually improved since the all-voluntary system was introduced, and the ministry is confident that the system would continue next year.
The ministry has not set any plans to reinstate conscription and the current system is to run for at least another year, he said.
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