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.
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