As of this month, 54 organizations have completed plans to remove, or have already removed, icons of authoritarian rule from public spaces in compliance with the Transitional Justice Commission’s regulations.
The Central Police University and the Taiwan Police College have agreed to rename their Zhongzheng halls, while the college also plans to remove two statues of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
The Executive Yuan’s Central Taiwan Joint Services Center moved a statue of Chiang to Taoyuan’s Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park, while a statue at Taian Service Area in Taichung, the largest statue at a rest station on a national freeway, is to be removed next year, the source said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The statue of Chiang at Chiayi County’s Jhaoping Station has been removed, while three statues at the Ministry of Justice offices in New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Changhua County have been removed, the commission said.
The Zhongzheng Building under the Ministry of Civil Service’s Muzha Office in Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山) would be renamed and its plaque would be removed this summer, the commission added.
Fourteen statues of Chiang Kai-shek and two portraits of former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) at companies affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs have been removed, while a half-bust of Chiang Kai-shek has been repurposed as a windmill, the commission said.
A statue of Chiang Kai-shek at the Chiayi County Tourism Bureau has been blocked from sight with a display panel, while the statue of him at Taitung County Airport was removed last year, the commission said.
Five of his statues at Coast Guard Administration bases — three at Kaohsiung bases, and one each in Taoyuan and Taitung — were removed, while the name Zhongzheng was struck from platforms at the bases, the commission said.
The Fishery Agency has put into storage a Chiang Ching-kuo relief originally featured in its Keelung office, the commission said.
Three statues of Chiang Kai-shek at homes for elderly people under the Ministry of Health and Welfare were removed, the commission said.
The commission did not arbitrarily state how the statues should be handled, and most of the methods were proposed by the respective agencies, Commissioner Deputy Director Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) said.
Except for the Ministry of National Defense, the Veterans Affairs Council and the Ministry of Education, there are still 38 places where “icons of authoritarian rule” remain unprocessed, Yeh said.
The commission would continue to work with governmental agencies and convey to them what transitional justice symbolizes and how they could implement it, Yeh said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS