A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator lashed out at the Taipei City Government yesterday for adopting double standards in attempting to protect the Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall.
Double standards
At a news conference she called at the Legislative Yuan, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said that in order to block the demolition of the wall surrounding the CKS Memorial Hall -- as decided by the Cabinet last Friday when it announced that the hall will be renamed "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" -- the Taipei City Government had demonstrated a "double standards mentality" on the protection of historical sites.
Lin said the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs had scrambled on Tuesday to have the CKS Memorial Hall temporarily declared a heritage site in a desparate attempt to protect the hall's outer wall from being torn down.
Review
Department director Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said on Tuesday that at the request of several residents and historians, the department had begun a review of the memorial's historical and cultural significance in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law (文化資產保存法).
With the review process in progress, the hall has been temporarily designated a heritage site and therefore cannot be altered, Lee said.
Lin claimed that the city government was using double standards by moving to protect the outer wall of the CKS Memorial Hall -- which is only 27 years old -- while planning to tear down the wall around the Confucius Temple in Talungtung (大龍峒), which is nearly 200 years old, a plan dating back to when Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was mayor.
Approachable
Ma had agreed that the wall around the Confucius Temple should be torn down "to make it more approachable for the public," Lin said.
On Saturday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the plan to tear down the wall around CKS Memorial Hall required the approval of the city government.
also see story:
Editorial: The cherry-picking of history
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS