The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday vowed to protect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and urged the public to denounce the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which it accused of targeting the monument to provoke ethnic conflict.
During a photographic exhibition dedicated to the memorial that runs through next Tuesday at KMT headquarters, KMT Acting Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) said the hall was a favorite tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors. He condemned the DPP for creating social and ethnic confrontation with its "anti-Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石]" campaign.
In addition to showcasing the beauty of the hall in its exhibition, Chiang said the party would hold a protest titled "Love Taiwan, Defend the Republic of China" on Saturday to express its opposition against the DPP's attack on Chiang Kai-shek.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Joining in the criticism of the DPP, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
"[Chiang Kai-shek] made numerous contributions to our nation and these contributions outweigh the criticisms against him," Hau said during a question-and-answer session in the Taipei City Council.
Taipei City Councilor Lee Chin-yuan (李慶元), a New Party member, later sent a small statue of Chiang Kai-shek to Hau and urged the city government to defend the memorial.
Taipei City Councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠), a DPP member, questioned the city government's listing of the hall as a "temporary historical monument" despite its relatively short 27-year history.
Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lee Yung-ping (
In related news, Public Construction Commission Chairman Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) said a public opinion poll on the monument will be conducted in the next month or two. The poll will include the question of whether or not the monument's outer walls should be demolished.
Wu said the commission would also assemble a task force to oversee the redesign of the monument's park following the poll.
Speaking to the legislature's Education and Culture Committee yesterday, Wu said his commission would also call on scores of "experts" in deciding if and how to demolish the hall's outer walls.
Wu said any redesign of the hall and its environs would be made to convenience the public.
Additional reporting by Max Hirsch
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
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
RSS