A bronze statue of the goddess Matsu has sparked a political row in Penghu County, with Penghu Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉) saying that county commissioner candidate Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) might dismantle the structure if elected.
The 48m-tall statue in Penghu Matsu Culture Park is scheduled to be unveiled next month after years of delays.
However, Lai of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said he is worried that Chen, the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate in the Nov. 26 local elections, could tear down the statue.
Photo courtesy of the Penghu County Government
Chen’s campaign team said he would not make any changes to the statue and would discuss how to maintain operations of the park if elected.
Penghu County Government spokesman Chen Chi-yu (陳其育) said in a statement that the park was originally planned to be built on Dacang Island (大倉島).
However, the project was scrapped in 2015 by Chen Kuang-fu, who was commissioner at the time, supposedly because fundraising for the original project failed to reach its target and the county council did not approve the plan, Chen Chi-yu said.
Lai revived the project after taking office in 2018 by relocating the park to Magong City’s (馬公) Chongguang Borough (重光) and securing NT$250 million (US$7.98 million at the current exchange rate) from the council, Chen Chi-yu said.
The first stage of the project features the statue, which was completed and assembled last month, he said.
The statue, looking over the ocean, is the tallest bronze statue of Matsu in the world and could promote local tourism, the county government said.
Given that Chen Kuang-fu abandoned the project once in 2015, it is not certain whether he would keep his promise to not remove the statue if elected, Chen Chi-yu said.
Chen Kuang-fu’s campaign team said in a statement that he halted the project in 2015 due to insufficient funding and its possible environmental impact.
Chen Kuang-fu has promised not to remove the statue and asked his advisers to draft a plan to promote it as a tourist attraction, the statement said.
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