The Transitional Justice Commission plans to complete its survey of roads named “Zhongzheng” (中正) — a name adopted by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — by September, it said on Saturday.
It wants to establish the number of roads nationwide with names symbolic of the nation’s authoritarian past, as well as the history behind the names.
The survey is being conducted in accordance with the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which establishes the illegality of symbolism commemorating the authoritarian period in public spaces, and requires such symbols to be removed, it said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The authoritarian-era Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government credited Chiang as the “savior of the Chinese race” and renamed numerous roads Zhongzheng as a way of having his name regularly spoken by the public, the committee said.
One of the most notable examples is Pingtung’s main street.
The road had long been nicknamed Coconut Grove Avenue (椰林大道) for the trees that line it on both sides, which give it a tropical island feel, but renaming it was done to evoke images of the then-president, the commission said.
Several other main roads around the nation were similarly renamed, including those in what is now New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), Houlong Township (後龍) in Miaoli County and Magong on Penghu, it said.
The government does not have complete records on the renamed roads, so the commission said it asked outside experts to assist it.
The commission last year began a survey of national parks to determine the number and location of statues of Chiang, and the road survey is a continuation of those efforts, it said.
Information provided by Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) showed that there are 152 Chiang statues in the three branches of the military’s various facilities, it said.
Meanwhile, the issue of the huge statue at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei has temporarily been put on hold, it said.
The Veteran Affairs Council and the Ministry of National Defense have expressed conservative positions on proposals to remove the statue, and a cross-departmental meeting would be convened to discuss it, the commission said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS