The diaries and papers of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) written during their presidencies belong to the state, while other items from the years when they were not president belong to their inheritors, the High Court said yesterday, upholding the ruling of a local court.
The decision can be appealed.
In 1962, Chiang Kai-shek began transferring his diaries and presidential documents to Chiang Ching-kuo, who handed them and his own diaries from 1938 to 1979 to his third son, Chiang Hsiao-yung (蔣孝勇).
Photo: CNA
Chiang Hsiao-yung made microforms of the collection, which he gave to his wife, Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡), for safekeeping.
Chiang Fang signed an agreement with Stanford University in 2005 that authorized the institution to keep the items for 50 years. The collection is still at the university.
Academia Historica said that Chiang Fang in 2013 signed an agreement with it to transfer ownership of the collection to the agency.
The Chiangs agreed to donate the collection, which should be managed by Academia Historica according to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Records and Artifacts Act (總統副總統文物管理條例), Academia Historica said.
Chiang You-mei (蔣友梅), the daughter of Chiang Ching-kuo’s eldest son, Chiang Hsiao-wen (蔣孝文), and others have said that the collection should be co-owned by the inheritors and Chiang Fang had no right to sign deals by herself.
The act was promulgated in January 2004 and should not be retroactive, they have said.
Academia Historica in 2015 filed a civil lawsuit against 16 inheritors in the Chiang family over rightful ownership of the collection.
The Taipei District Court in 2020 made the first ruling that the papers belong to the state, a decision that Chiang You-mei and other family members appealed.
The case was assigned to High Court Judge Yang Po-chin (楊博欽), who urged the two parties to settle the dispute, as the collection is precious and should be preserved properly.
Chen Yu (陳瑜) took over the case after Yang died.
During the High Court trial, the lawyer for the Chiangs said that the personal schedules should be owned by the Chiangs and not Academia Historica, whose lawyer argued that all papers documenting the presidents’ schedules and work during their presidencies belong to the state, but added that it was willing to settle.
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