A draft amendment by the New Power Party (NPP) that seeks to rename some of the nation’s highest commendations to remove authoritarian symbols yesterday failed to enter committee review due to a boycott by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus.
That was the fourth time the KMT caucus has blocked the draft amendment to the Medals Act (勳章條例) from entering committee review since it was first submitted by NPP Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾) on Sept. 22.
Through the proposed amendment, the pan-green lawmakers seek to rename honorary civilian orders that are reminiscent of the past party-state system to appellations more representative of contemporary Taiwan.
The five orders, in descending order of importance, are the Order of Brilliant Jade with Grand Cordon (采玉大勳章), the Order of Dr Sun Yat-sen with Grand Cordon (中山勳章), the Order of Chiang Chung-cheng with Grand Cordon (中正勳章), the Order of Propitious Clouds (勳雲勳章) and the Order of Brilliant Star (景星勳章).
The Order of Brilliant Jade, which reads caiyu in Mandarin, was named after Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣中正) mother, Wang Tsai-yu (王采玉), and can only be presented by the president or an emissary to the head of state of a foreign nation.
The Order of Dr Sun Yat-sen and the Order of Chiang Chung-cheng were named after Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) and Chiang respectively. Chiang Chung-cheng is a less commonly used romanization of Chiang’s name.
The bill proposes renaming the Order of Brilliant Jade to Jade Mountain, Taiwan’s highest mountain, and the Order of Dr Sun Yat-sen to Black Tide (黑潮), the Kuroshio Current that flows northward along the nation’s eastern coast, which the lawmakers said has nurtured the nation.
It also suggests abolishing the Order of Chiang Chung-cheng.
The names of those three orders were apparently influenced by political ideology, Lim said.
“Chiang was a controversial dictator, while his mother had nothing to do with Taiwan, nor was she Taiwanese,” Lim said, adding that an order named after such a “stranger” cannot represent the nation.
The KMT will only grow more out of sync with society if it continues to dwell on the past and block efforts to rid the nation of outdated laws that should have ended with the former authoritarian regime, he added.
DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said the DPP caucus has thrown its support behind the draft amendment, as it is inappropriate for the government’s highest civilian honor to be named after someone who has made no contribution to the nation’s defense and diplomatic development, and who carried no significance to ordinary Taiwanese.
“We also plan to pass a draft transitional justice promotion act in the current legislative session to help remove other lingering authoritarian symbols from the nation,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said the civilian orders do not necessarily have to carry the name of a specific individual, adding that since Taiwan has become democratized, changes must be made to past authoritarian practices.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant