Faced with President Chen Shui-bian's (
John Chiang, the grandson of Chiang Kai-shek and son of Chiang Ching-kuo, said that information he had received from Taoyuan residents indicated that the mausoleums in Tzuhu (慈湖) and Touliao (頭寮) helped strengthen Taoyuan County's ties with "the history of the Republic of China."
Keeping the mausoleums in the county was also good for the local tourism industry, John Chiang said.
At a campaign event for a group of Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidates in Taipei on Friday night, the president said the military guards posted at the two mausoleums would be withdrawn early next year.
Chen also said he hoped the mausoleums would soon be relocated, as previously requested by the Chiang family.
The Chiang family made a request to the military in 2004 that the bodies be transferred to a military cemetery at Wuchih Mountain (五指山), Taipei County, where Chiang Kai-shek's other son, Weigo Chiang (蔣緯國), is buried, along with other military officers.
The relocation has not been carried out, however, because some members of the Chiang family are against it.
John Chiang said on Saturday that he was against the idea of Chen hosting any possible future relocation ceremony.
"As long as Chen is in office, I would not agree with having him host the burials because that would be an insult to my late grandfather and father," he said.
John Chiang said he might seek to amend the State Funeral Law (國葬法) if he wins re-election next month.
The current law, which took effect in 1948, stipulates that the Ministry of the Interior and "the local government of the capital" should choose a location in the capital to establish a state cemetery for those who were buried with a state funeral.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS