The publication of former president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) diaries, which were recently returned to Taiwan following a decade-long legal battle, is a form of “social reconciliation and progress,” Academia Historica said yesterday.
The seven-volume collection from 1948 to 1954, published by the Republic of China History and Culture Society, covers Chiang’s first term as president and the pivotal period during which he retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War.
More diaries covering Chiang’s later years in office are to be published from next year, the National Archives Administration said, adding that it plans to publish the 1970-1979 diaries of his son, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), later this year.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The content is to be uploaded to the state archives’ online database from March next year.
Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) told a news conference in Taipei that the publication of the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek — who remains a highly controversial figure in Taiwan — should be seen as “a form of social reconciliation and progress.”
Citing his own experience, Chen encouraged readers to avoid seeing Chiang Kai-shek in black-and-white terms, and instead read the diaries carefully within the historical context.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“Without a doubt, the diaries are important historical documents and cultural treasures,” Zhongzheng Cultural and Education Foundation president Chiang Fang Chih-yi (蔣方智怡) said in a speech at an event marking the occasion.
She pointed to the details recorded in the diaries that Chiang Kai-shek had kept over a span of about 50 years.
Chiang Fang — who was married to Chiang Ching-kuo’s third son, Chiang Hsiao-yung (蔣孝勇) — signed an agreement with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution to keep the diaries for 50 years starting from 2005.
Academia Historica in 2013 said she had signed an agreement with it to take over the documents, leading to a protracted legal battle that culminated with the return of the diaries in September, when Academia Historica received 59 boxes of documents kept by the former presidents from 1917 to 1979.
Chiang Fang said that people who are critical of Chiang Kai-shek should consider the circumstances he faced as leader of the Republic of China, such as fighting Japan, while also combating communists.
The achievements Taiwan enjoys today should be considered when analyzing the endeavors of those who came before, she added.
Chiang Fang concluded by referring to a statement from Chiang Kai-shek’s will, encouraging Taiwanese to “revive democratic culture and safeguard democracy.”
One of the collection’s most notable passages is Chiang Kai-shek’s description of leaving Chengdu — the last Nationalist-controlled city in China — on Dec. 10, 1949. He left the city after learning that then-Yunnan Province governor Lu Han (盧漢) had defected to the communists and asked the leader of the then-Hsikang Province (a region now part of Sichuan Province) to help capture Chiang Kai-shek.
After holding meetings that morning, Chiang Kai-shek boarded a 2pm flight at Chengdu’s Fenghuangshan military airport and arrived in Taipei that evening, where he was taken directly to the Grass Mountain Chateau on Yangmingshan.
Perhaps unexpectedly given the circumstances, Chiang’s diary entry for that day praises the “mild air” and “peaceful environment” in Taiwan, which he compared with the “gloom” that had settled over wartime Chengdu.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS