Due to a lack of public consensus, the Tainan City Government has temporarily suspended plans to restore a statue of Republic of China (ROC) founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) that had been toppled in a local park.
The statue in the city’s Tang Te-chang Memorial Park was toppled by demonstrators protesting authoritarian symbols in February 2014.
The city had planned to restore the statue in the park on Friday, but the decision was met with criticism from advocates of Taiwanese independence.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
National Cheng Kung University Taiwanese literature professor Chiung Wi-vun (蔣為文) on Wednesday last week questioned whether Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had become a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), saying that Tainan residents should gather at the park on Friday to protest.
DPP Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) said that there is a global trend to move away from erecting statues and busts of people.
The Transitional Justice Commission has also asked local governments to remove statues that are symbols of the KMT authoritarian regime, he said, adding that Tainan has not only not removed them, but is considering restoring such a statue, one that is not even related to the park’s name.
KMT Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) praised the city government’s decision, saying that Sun is not a controversial figure in Taiwan.
“This mayor is different from others and deserves to be praised,” Hsieh said of Huang.
On Friday, Huang said that while the city government must do something with the statue, it has decided to delay restoring the statue until it sees what the public thinks about it.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS