Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) was on Friday ordered confined to his home after allegedly throwing eggs at a Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) statue in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office ordered Chen to remain in his residence for allegedly contravening the Cultural Heritage Protection Act (文化資產保存法).
Chen said his actions were in protest of comments made by Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得), who on Wednesday said he did not support the removal of the statue, as protesters seeking to get rid of the sculpture have been taking “a more moderate approach.”
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
“Lee’s comments take the tolerant nature of Taiwanese for weakness,” Chen said, adding that the remarks show disregard for the pain of the political victims of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime and their descendants.
Chen said that throwing eggs at the statue was his “non-moderate” method of expressing his view that there can be no justice if Chiang’s statue remains.
Taiwanese have endured the oppression of the KMT regime under Chiang, after the 228 Massacre and throughout the White Terror era, Chen said.
“We had hoped that with a localized party [the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)] in power, holding a legislative majority, it would make known the truths of the massacres and hold the KMT to account for its past injustices and wrongs, and yet to this day Chiang’s statue is still enshrined at the hall,” he said.
Of the 848 Chiang statues in Taiwan, about 400, mostly at Ministry of National Defense and Veterans Affairs Council facilities, have not been processed for removal, government data showed.
Academics have called on the DPP government to present a clear policy on reducing the number of Chiang statues.
Lo Cheng-chung (羅承宗), a professor at the Institute of Financial and Economic Law at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, on Thursday said that the first Chiang statue was set up in front of the Control Yuan on Dec 25, 1946.
In the decades that followed, county and city governments would erect Chiang statues to celebrate the KMT leader’s birthday, he said.
Lo said that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration should prioritize the removal of the statues.
Citing the statue at the memorial hall in particular, Lo said the Tsai government should not waste money on the changing of the guard for a statue of a person that few ever think of.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to