In a move bound to raise eyebrows, the TSU yesterday proposed renaming the National Palace Museum as the Formosa Museum to give the establishment a local identity.
The suggestion drew immediate criticism from other parties, including the ruling DPP, whose lawmakers said the proposal would do nothing to help the Taiwanization movement.
During an interview with reporters, TSU legislative whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said he will seek support this week for his bill to rename the museum -- a bid designed to distinguish the compound from the National Palace Museum in Beijing.
"As both sides have a National Palace Museum, the suggested name change can help end confusion between the two," Lo said.
The TSU whip added that the ongoing effort to remake the government created an opportunity for implementing his proposal.
The museum in Taipei ranks as one of the best museums in the world, in a class with the Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum. It holds around 700,000 artifacts, the vast majority of which are from the private collections of China's emperors.
DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (
Wang said there is no need to deny the Chinese origin of the museum and its treasures since they are the historic product of cross-strait entanglement.
"If we refuse to recognize that reality, we might as well return those artifacts [to China]," Wang said.
Years ago, Beijing criticized Taipei for "stealing" the treasures and demanded their return. Taiwan's government responded by saying the artifacts would not have survived the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, when unruly Red Guards swept across China, destroying temples, antiques and other reminders of the "bourgeois" past.
PFP legislative leader Diane Lee (
"We must not take the issue lightly as the museum and its collections represent the essence of 5,000 years of Chinese history," Lee said.
She also questioned the government's suggestion of placing the museum under the supervision of the Presidential Office instead of the Cabinet.
Lee said she is worried that, without legislative oversight, dishonest officials may steal the treasures, as happened at the end of the Ching Dynasty.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS