Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday visited Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei on the 151st anniversary of Sun’s birth, where she said that the KMT is Sun’s true heir, in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) celebration of Sun’s 150th birthday in Beijing on Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday said that the best way to pay tribute to Sun Yat-sen is to continue to pursue the rejuvenated China that Sun dreamed of, Xinhua news agency reported.
Xi also said that the CCP is “the most resolute supporter, the most loyal collaborator and the truest heir of Sun’s revolutionary enterprise,” the report said.
Photo: CNA, provided by Tainan District
Hung yesterday said that Sun is the KMT’s “permanent leader” and a great man who led the revolutionary founders of the Republic of China (ROC).
“There is no question that the KMT is the true heir of Sun,” Hung said.
Sun was born on Nov. 12, 1866. According to Chinese tradition, that would make him 151, as a newborn is already considered one year old.
Photo: Chang CHia-ming, Taipei Times
The exhibition, titled: “The Cession of Taiwan Instigated the Revolution, the Republic Guarded Taiwan,” was sponsored by the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the KMT Party History Institute.
The exhibition displays artifacts and documents that signify the spirit of Sun’s 40 years of “republic revolution,” the KMT said, but added that more importantly, it also tells the stories of Taiwanese patriots who strived for revolution in China during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan.
“Sun’s devotion to the revolution was closely related to the outbreak of the [First] Sino-Japanese War and the defeat of the Qing Dynasty which led to the cession of Taiwan; in a way it can be said that the loss of Taiwan was the starting point of Sun’s revolution,” the party said, adding that it hopes the public can learn more about Sun’s endeavors through the exhibition.
At the opening event, Hung said that Sun’s revolution had “direct and intimate connections” with Taiwan.
“The cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores was of extreme concern to the nation’s founding father, and he cherished the wish of retrieving them to consolidate the ROC,” Hung said.
She also cited various examples of historical Taiwanese figures who joined the cause of the revolution of the republic, demonstrating that “Taiwanese did not succumb completely to Japanese rule during the Japanese colonial era.”
Questioning the party’s current direction, the party chairwoman said self-reflection is needed when the CCP now calls itself Sun’s true heir.
“Have we forgotten the spirit and ideals the party members had when they founded the party? Have we lost the KMT’s core ideas? If we have forgotten Sun’s last words: ‘Peace, struggle and save China’ and our own core values, which would be tantamount to trashing our treasures, how can we call ourselves Sun’s heirs?” she asked.
During Hung’s visit, she bumped into former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was also touring the exhibition and was accompanied by former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), former Presidential Office secretary-general Tseng Tung-chuan (曾永權) and former National Security Council secretary-general Kao Hua-chu (高華柱).
On Ma’s instigation, the group chanted KMT slogans, with the audience cheering for “president Ma,” chairwoman Hung, the KMT and the ROC.
In response to media queries about the CCP’s claim to be Sun’s heir, Ma said: “The father of the nation is our father of the nation.”
“It is very different in that the CCP sees Sun as a ‘forerunner of the democratic revolution’ while we regard Sun as the founder of the ROC,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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