The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has no legitimacy to host an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Whampoa Military Academy, Veterans Affairs Council Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said yesterday.
The academy was established in 1924 in China’s Guangdong Province, with former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) serving as its first principal. After the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan, the academy was relocated to Kaohsiung in 1950 and renamed the Republic of China Military Academy.
Local Chinese-language media reported that China has been cozying up to academy alumni to attend its event in Guangdong in June marking the academy’s centennial, adding that it aims to have 3,000 Taiwanese attend the event.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
During a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) asked Feng whether the CCP has the legitimacy to hold celebratory events for the academy, to which Feng responded: “Of course not.”
“The sole purpose of the CCP holding the event is to use it as a part of its ‘united front’ tactics,” Feng said. “It is meaningless for academy alumni to attend.”
Feng added that he does not believe it would draw an attendance of 3,000 alumni from Taiwan.
If there are people who want to go, they should go and not come back, he said, adding that if they still want to come back, that means Taiwan has its pluses.
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