Prosecutors yesterday declined to file charges against four people suspected of vandalizing a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) at Fu Jen Catholic University earlier this year.
After completing its investigation, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office said there would be no charges filed against the four suspects, three of whom are university students, over the vandalism on Feb. 28, the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident.
Investigators said that on Feb. 28, a dozen people gathered on the university’s campus with a portable electric grinder and hand tools to deface the statue.
Photo: CNA
Bystanders called the police, who arrived after the group had broken off the bronze statue’s cane, the investigators said, adding that a confrontation ensued after police tried to stop the group, with both sides later saying they sustained minor cuts and bruises.
Police apprehended four people and sought to press charges of obstructing an officer in discharge of their duties.
However, prosecutors yesterday said the charges were dropped because the four were not violent and did not resist arrest.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
Investigators quoted one of the students, surnamed Lo (羅), as saying during questioning that “the statue of Chiang Kai-shek symbolizes the past authoritarian dictatorship. It should not continue to stand inside schools. We just wanted to remove it.”
Separately yesterday, a statue of Chiang at Zhongzheng Senior High School in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) was found decapitated and covered with the slogan “No removal, no name change; then it is decapitation” written in white paint.
School officials called the police after learning of the incident in the morning.
There has been a campaign by local residents and pro-Taiwan civic groups calling for the school’s original name, Shilin High School, to be restored.
The then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime mandated the name change in 1975 to commemorate Chiang, who died earlier that year. Zhongzheng (中正) is the adulatory name used by the cult of personality that worships Chiang.
Local residents have cited the current name’s political connotations when lending their support to the campaign, and many still refer to the school by its old name.
Taipei police said they dispatched a forensics team to gather evidence and examine surveillance camera footage of the incident.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS