Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall should be transformed into a research center and museum for all of the nation’s presidents, New Power Party (NPP) caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday, adding that the memorial’s name could be temporarily preserved alongside the statue of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
“Having a memorial dedicated to this one leader isn’t appropriate because we don’t have any other similar memorials. It would be better to start dedicating the site to all former presidents and transition content to remove all traces of the authoritarian tradition of reverence to Chiang Kai-shek,” Hsu said, adding that he had already submitted an amendment to the Organization Act of National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Management Office (國立中正紀念堂管理處組織法), which the legislature’s Procedure Committee is expected to address on Tuesday.
The amendment would expand the memorial’s mandate to include the preservation and exhibition of artifacts from all of the nation’s former presidents, along with research into the nation’s democratization process.
Photo: AP
The hall is charged only with preserving and presenting artifacts related to Chiang, although it is also permitted to hold artistic exhibitions.
“Because the site is conveniently located in Taipei’s city center, for it to be devoted only to Chiang is a waste,” Hsu said, adding that the site could continue to move in the direction of becoming a general exhibition center, while also serving as a depository for the documents of the nation’s past presidents, taking advantage of its location next to the National Central Library.
The imposing memorial complex occupies more than 25 hectares, with a 76m-tall central monument which was the nation’s second-tallest building when it was completed in 1980, falling just short of the Grand Hotel in Taipei.
The Academica Historica’s existing museum for past presidents could be integrated with the memorial hall if the amendment is passed, Hsu added.
He rejected calls to tear down the memorial hall from some past victims of human rights abuses perpetrated under Chiang’s decades-long rule, while adding that transitioning the content could help create consensus for further change.
“Only discussing a name change or whether to keep the memorial would only create pan-blue and pan-green conflict, so we want to focus on content, because there are both pan-blue and pan-green former presidents. We’ve even considered including presidents of the Republic of China before it moved to Taiwan, so the memorial could continue to count as a presentation of Republic of China history,” he said. “As far as I am concerned, as long as our amendment passes, it would even be acceptable for Chiang’s huge bronze statue to remain, because it has an educational function.”
The administration of former Democratic Progressive Party president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sought to tear down the site’s perimeter marble wall and controversially renamed it “National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall,” only to see the name changed back when former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to power in 2008.
‘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
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
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
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