Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) should be removed from Taiwanese banknotes and coins, the Transitional Justice Commission said in its final report as the ministy-level organization prepares to close tomorrow.
Chiang’s likeness should be removed from coins and notes when the central bank carries out a redesign of the nation’s currency, said the report, an official copy of which was handed to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) by the commission’s acting minister Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) at a ceremony in Taipei on Friday.
Images of Chiang are on NT$1 and NT$5 coins, and NT$200 banknotes.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Citing the findings of two expert panels that the commission organized in 2019, the report said the purpose of currency design is to promote symbols and values that unify the nation and represent it to the outside world.
The prominence of Chiang and Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) on money suggests an overemphasis on political leadership and the glorification of “strongmen,” which is at odds with democratic norms, it said.
Chiang’s “dictatorial” reign was responsible for “undermining the democratic constitutional order, utilizing state violence and human rights infringements,” it said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Putting Chiang on coins and banknotes implies that an authoritarian ruler is the nation’s unifying symbol and that his regime represents its values, the report said.
The government has a legal responsibility to remove authoritarian symbols under the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which supersedes the central bank’s concerns about costs, it said.
Coins and banknotes bearing Chiang’s image should be taken out of circulation and replaced with new designs to be selected via an appropriate process that enables civic participation, the report said.
The replacement designs should underscore the nation’s cultural distinctiveness, natural landscape and the progressive values of cultural diversity, gender equality and environmentalism, it said.
The process should be conducted bearing in mind the need to facilitate societal dialogue and the formation of national identity, it said.
The report also made three suggestions regarding the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.
The statue of Chiang at the hall should be relocated, the function and appearance of the hall should be altered and anything in the park related to the “worship” of authoritarian figures should be removed, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The domestically designed Teng Yun 2 drone passed development milestones over the weekend, flying for more than 10 hours straight and circling Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in the longest flight of an indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle. Developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Teng Yun 2, or “Cloud Rider” (騰雲二型), recorded its longest flight yet over the weekend, after a three-hour test flight last month, followed by five and seven-hour stretches in the air. The Teng Yun 2 No. 1812 departed from Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County at 6:46pm on Saturday and flew on a
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
CECC UPDATE: Officials said the definition of a confirmed COVID-19 case has been revised to include those who are positive in a PCR home test confirmed by a doctor The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that it would probably list monkeypox as a category 2 notifiable communicable disease today or tomorrow. The WHO is to convene an emergency committee meeting today in accordance with the International Health Regulations to discuss whether the spread of monkeypox to 39 countries, including 32 non-endemic countries, constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. On Tuesday, the Singaporean Ministry of Health confirmed its first imported case of monkeypox, which is also the first case reported in Southeast Asia. South Korea yesterday reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox — a South Korean national who