On July 15, the military honor guards’ “handover ceremony” at the Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂) was performed outdoors for the first time on Democracy Boulevard outside the main hall — rather than in front of former president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) statue inside the main hall.
The 15-minute ceremony is performed once every hour on the hour from 9am to 5pm on the boulevard.
However, the relocation has caused much criticism, with some people saying the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s move is “interfering with the military honor guards.”
Would the military honor guards really die of heat after performing outdoors for 15 minutes under the sun at the CKS Memorial Hall? What about the military honor guards performing outdoors at the mausoleums of Chiang and his son former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪) and at the martyrs’ shrines? Would they not die of heat too? And what about the military troops at training centers? Don’t the military honor guards and troops across Taiwan stay outdoors under the sun for more than 15 minutes? They surely do.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the pan-blue camp say that the DPP government’s withdrawal of the military honor guards’ handover ceremony from the CKS Memorial Hall was done for purely ideological reasons.
However, if this logic is valid, by the same logic the KMT’s practice of treating Chiang Kai-shek, a notorious murderer, as a great leader and sending the military honor guards to salute his stature every day is also ideologically driven.
The pro-unification camp often ridicules new military recruits as being “strawberry soldiers” — soft and easily bruised. Now, the military honor guards at the CKS Memorial Hall merely perform outdoors for 15 minutes, and no longer have to stand on guard inside the hall. So how can they be abused in this way? What about the military honor guards at other sites? Do they not also perform regularly outdoors under the sun?
The military is facing a serious labor force shortage. Why do we not return the elite military honor guards to the troops to train new military recruits? How many resources have already been wasted on the handover ceremony at the CKS Memorial Hall over the past 44 years, and what good do such performances do to Taiwan’s defense and security? The KMT is the master of political ideology, is it not?
The best solution to the problem is to reduce the duties of the military honor guards, who should only be responsible for receiving foreign dignitaries, while other guards across Taiwan should be abolished.
Since this is also the case in Europe, the US, China, Japan and many other countries, why should Taiwan be an exception? Why should the military honor guards also continue to salute Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo at the mausoleums in Dasi?
Teng Hon-yuan is a university professor.
Translated by Eddy Chang
In the past month, two important developments are poised to equip Taiwan with expanded capabilities to play foreign policy offense in an age where Taiwan’s diplomatic space is seriously constricted by a hegemonic Beijing. Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) led a delegation of Taiwan and US companies to the Philippines to promote trilateral economic cooperation between the three countries. Additionally, in the past two weeks, Taiwan has placed chip export controls on South Africa in an escalating standoff over the placing of its diplomatic mission in Pretoria, causing the South Africans to pause and ask for consultations to resolve
An altercation involving a 73-year-old woman and a younger person broke out on a Taipei MRT train last week, with videos of the incident going viral online, sparking wide discussions about the controversial priority seats and social norms. In the video, the elderly woman, surnamed Tseng (曾), approached a passenger in a priority seat and demanded that she get up, and after she refused, she swung her bag, hitting her on the knees and calves several times. In return, the commuter asked a nearby passenger to hold her bag, stood up and kicked Tseng, causing her to fall backward and
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
The election campaign for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair is heating up, with only 10 days left before party members cast their ballots on Oct. 18. The campaign has revealed potential strengths for the party going into important elections next year and in 2028, particularly the desire among leading candidates to deepen cooperation with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). However, it has also exposed the party’s persistent weaknesses, especially in formulating a policy on cross-strait relations that can appeal to the majority of Taiwanese. Six candidates are registered: former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), 73; former legislator Cheng Li-wun
RSS