About 646 statues of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) remained standing across Taiwan as of Aug. 31, according to official statistics, despite efforts to remove symbols of the nation’s authoritarian past as part of transitional justice.
Removal of “authoritarian symbols” is recorded by a dedicated department under the Ministry of the Interior.
Taoyuan alone has 60 statues awaiting removal, a department report said.
Photo copied by Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
This is despite the city serving as home to the Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park, which displays hundreds of statues of the late leader, many of which were relocated from other cities and counties.
Taipei is home to 58, including a giant bronze of the late leader at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, it said.
In the remaining six special municipalities, 36 are in Taichung, six in New Taipei City, six in Kaohsiung and two in Tainan, the report said.
Of the 646 remaining statues, 394 fall under the jurisdiction of central government agencies and 252 are managed by local governments, the report said.
The Ministry of National Defense displays the most among government agencies, with 251 statues recorded within military bases, of which only 18 have been removed, it said.
The Ministry of Education comes next with 139 statues recorded, 51 of which were already removed, it added.
Statues awaiting removal in Taipei and Toayuan show the local governments’ lack of positive action, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) said today.
Most of the areas home to these statues are in constituencies run by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), she said.
For example, Taoyuan Mayor Simon Chang (張善政) of the KMT has shown little willingness to cooperate with statue removals, she added.
A park in Chiayi County named “Jhongjheng” (中正) — another of Chiang’s names — had statues removed in the past, although any motivation to relocate the symbols appears to have died down, she said.
Transitional justice is of the utmost importance to Taiwan, Wang said.
All statues of Chiang should be relocated to the Cihu park, she said, adding that those wishing to pay their respects can go there.
She also urged the Taoyuan City Government to take action, especially since the city is home to Cihu.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS