It is ironic that while no trace of late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) can be found in the 228 Memorial Museum, his image can be seen everywhere on NT$10 coins, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said yesterday, demanding that all coins bearing Chiang’s image be recalled.
The 228 Incident refers to the bloody crackdown on protesters under Chiang’s administration after a woman was beaten for selling contraband cigarettes in Taipei on the night of Feb. 27, 1947.
Yao, a former Government Information Office minister, proposed changing Chiang’s image on the coins to images of people who contributed positively to Taiwanese society like victims of the Incident, such as internationally renowned painter Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波).
In 2006, the 228 Incident Memorial Foundation’s published a report titled Who Should Shoulder Responsibility for the 228 Incident? that said “Chiang was the instigator of the Incident and should shoulder most of the responsibility,” Yao said, adding that other historical sources confirmed that Chiang was responsible for the Incident.
However, Yao said that a design featuring Chiang’s image was introduced in 1981 for NT$10 and NT$5, adding that coins bearing the images of Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), an important figure in Taiwan’s resistance against Japanese colonial rule, and late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Chiang Kai-shek’s son, accounted for just 3.4 percent of the 2.9 billion Taiwanese coins in circulation.
These 30-year-old coins are not only nearing the time when they should be phased out, but Taiwan is also currently strengthening its democracy and transitional justice, which should not be limited to memorial museums and memorial services, while the instigator of the Incident still haunts our daily lives, Yao said.
The central bank should recall all coins with the image of the 228 Incident instigator on them and issue new coins with the image of 228 victims like Chen, Yao said, adding that in the future, other important figures or stories should also be considered candidates for images on coins.
In terms of choosing the images of personages on coins, Yao said that countries across the world have begun to substitute artists or members of other professional careers for political figures to reflect the dynamic characteristic of their nations, citing the example of New Zealand’s NZ$5 note, featuring Edmund Hillary, the first person in the world to climb Mount Everest, and the Japanese ￥1,000 note, using the image of Noguchi Hideyo, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine three times.
When other nations use the images of political figures on their money, they choose those with highly positive values, such as former US presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Yao said, adding that none chose a controversial symbol of authoritarian rule like Chiang Kai-shek.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS