Smoking is now prohibited at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the hall’s management office said yesterday, after a celebrity accused it of removing trees to establish a smoking area.
The office said it would no longer permit smoking in previously designated areas, effective immediately, following a complaint a day earlier by entertainer Tai Chih-yuan (邰智源).
It also denied that trees were removed to create a smoking area, saying it cut down tall trees with brown root rot to prevent them from falling over and causing injury.
Photo courtesy of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
The soil was also disinfected to prevent the disease from spreading, it added.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the Taipei City Government would help enforce the no smoking policy.
Regarding a call by the John Tung Foundation to fine the hall for establishing smoking areas in contravention of regulations, the Taipei Department of Health said it had not received any complaints.
Although the memorial is a cultural establishment and therefore should be entirely smoke-free under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法), the smoking areas it previously established did not exceed half of all outdoor spaces and were in line with regulations, Health Promotion Division Director-General Lin Hsueh-lan (林雪蘭) said.
In a statement released yesterday, Tai called on the Ministry of Culture to “do something cultural” about the issue.
He urged the ministry to put up signs in Chinese and English at the hall’s entrances stating that smoking is banned.
Responding to comments about upholding smokers’ rights, Tai suggested setting up walled-off spaces in front of the National Central Library for smokers, adding that funding for the areas should come from tobacco health and welfare surcharges.
If national sites adopt such policies, local governments would follow suit and implement similar facilities at outdoor locations, such as swimming pools or tracks, Tai said.
The law is only effective to a limit, and it is up to the public to follow the rules, Tai said, adding that a nation is powerful not just because of the vastness of its territory or strength of its military, but also because of the strength of character of its citizens.
Additional reporting by Chiu Yi-chin
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