A proposal by the Ministry of National Defense to remove statues of the dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from military bases drew harsh criticism from pan-blue legislators yesterday.
The ministry proposed removing old and eroded statues of Chiang Kai-shek and his son, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), from military bases nationwide. The story came to light after the decision was leaked to Chinese-language newspapers. But because of the sensitivity of the issue, the ministry would not disclose who made the decision.
"Neither President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) nor Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
Diehard pan-blue supporters immediately launched into hyperbolic attacks on the proposal.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shuai Hua-min (
He said the government and the military should honor history, and that the statues did not contribute to the politicization of the military.
The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed media reports that Chen had ordered the move.
David Lee (李南陽), director-general of the Department of Public Affairs at the Presidential Office, said that Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and the defense ministry had already dismissed the allegation.
Cho said on Sunday that it made sense to erase the marks that the authoritarian KMT regime had left on the nation's military. As for how and when this should be done, Cho said that the Presidential Office left this to the Executive Yuan and the defense ministry.
Taiwan's military has many symbolic remnants from the KMT authoritarian state era, from unit and service insignia that use the party's logo, a white sun on a blue background, to songs urging soldiers to "retake the sacred motherland [China]."
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
He said that a statue of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a Confederate Army general who fought for the secessionist states during the US Civil War, stands to this day in the Virginia Military Institute. Why then, he asked, should a statue of Chiang Kai-shek, the founder of the Whampoa Military Academy, be removed?
The original Whampoa Military Academy was founded by Chiang Kai-shek in 1924 in Guangzhou Province. After the KMT was defeated and fled to Taiwan, the school was relocated to Fengshan, Kaohsiung County.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
The proposal to remove the statues is part of a wider program to depoliticize the military begun in 2000. Other proposals include discontinuing the use of Chinese and KMT symbols.
The defense ministry recently decided to change one phrase of the Whampoa Military Academy's anthem from "the party flag is flying" to "the national flag is flying."
This move was also criticized by pan-blue lawmakers at the meeting yesterday.
DPP legislators have also asked for the military to stop singing military songs honoring China and the KMT, saying that it is ridiculous for the practice to continue.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS