Taiwan is still full of reminders of the authoritarian era under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), with a total of 1,814 sites, monuments and office spaces named in memory of them, an average of one for every 20km2 in the nation, a Transitional Justice Commission report released on Friday said.
Taiwan has 1,235 monuments, statues, sculptures and large-frame portraits commemorating the two Chiangs, commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) said, adding that of those, 511 fall under the central government’s jurisdiction, and only 54 have been removed or renamed.
There are also 579 memorial sites and office spaces named in remembrance of them.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Excluding the 227 statues of Chiang Kai-shek and two of Chiang Ching-kuo at the Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪), there are 848 statues of Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan, of which 511 belong to local governments and 337 belong to the central government, the report said.
Taipei has the most statues of Chiang Kai-shek at 129, followed by Taoyuan at 112 and Taichung at 98, it added.
For those under the central government’s jurisdiction, most of the statues dedicated to the two Chiangs are located in agencies under the Ministry of National Defense, the Veterans Affairs Council and the Ministry of Education, the report found, adding that they have 276 in total, or 82 percent.
The three ministries also have the highest number of office spaces and sites dedicated to the two Chiangs at 143, or 89 percent.
Of the 419 statues, office spaces and sites, only five have been removed or repurposed, and that was mainly done by universities, commission Deputy Chair Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) said, adding that as the military and other schools have differing views on the removal of statues or monuments of the two Chiangs, discussions with the three ministries are ongoing.
“There are many ways to handle these reminders of Taiwan’s authoritarian past, including removing them, repurposing them into open public sites or spaces for the arts ... while moving them to be stored at a warehouse is also another option, or transferring them to cultural parks,” said Yang, adding the commission would continue to keep track of how the government agencies are dealing with the matter.
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
INCURSION: After 13 PLA aircraft flew into Taiwan’s ADIZ, the US Department of State said that China should rather ‘engage in meaningful dialogue’ with Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration on Saturday urged China to stop placing military pressure on Taiwan, while calling on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in peaceful dialogue. The statement by the US Department of State was issued after 13 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. The air force scrambled fighter jets to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets until the planes left the ADIZ. The US “notes
CHANGE OF GUARD: Hsiao Bi-khim’s attendance at Joe Biden’s inauguration will come as a boost to those in Taiwan who feared that the new US administration would be less friendly than that of Donald Trump to the nation Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to attend US President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol after she was invited by the US Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a news release issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said last night. The news came as a surprise as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been reticent about the matter, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members had accused the Democratic Progressive Party administration of hedging its bets on the Republican Party. Asked about when Hsiao received the invitation, the ministry did not
FAMILY UNIT: The CECC warned that the eldest sister of the latest case, who also has COVID-19, visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market on Tuesday and Wednesday The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s. The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that
RSS