Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan city councilors yesterday panned the city government’s removal of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) statues from 14 junior-high and elementary schools in the municipality on Saturday, branding Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) a “terrorist” and calling him “Emperor Lai.”
KMT city councilors Lu Kun-fu (盧崑福), Wang Chia-chen (王家貞) and Tsai Shu-hui (蔡淑惠) said at a news conference in Tainan that the removal was arbitrarily executed without regard or respect for the schools’ autonomy, adding that Lai’s decision fostered further conflict between members of the pan-green and pan-blue camps.
Having the statues wrapped in white cloth prior to removal made them resemble mummies, the councilors said, comparing Lai to the extremist Islamic State group, which has destroyed historical artifacts in Iraq.
The city councilors called the operation “too secretive,” as the schools were not notified of the removals in advance.
In response, Lai said the decision to remove the statues was not made on a whim, as it was announced on Feb. 28 while he was attending a memorial event to mark the 228 Incident.
The statues were removed in the interests of transitional justice, Lai said, adding that schools are intended to be places to pass knowledge on to students.
“Schools should not be places promoting political adoration, especially the adoration of Chiang,” Lai said.
The removals were conducted over the weekend to minimize class disruptions, he said, adding that the workers wrapped the statues to protect them from damage.
Opposing opinions are inevitable when a mayor decides to do something, he said, adding that he would gladly listen if such opinions were constructive, but that he would not be baited by aggressive commentary seeking to mislead the public.
Separately yesterday, in response to a question posed by Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌), Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟) said that each statue has its own history, and he urged the nation to refrain from thinking politically about the statues.
When Lai Chen-chang further inquired as to whether the presence of Chiang’s statues in school campuses was itself a political consideration, Hung said that “has its own historical background.”
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS