Fewer than 100 Republic of China (ROC) veterans are expected to visit China for the Whampoa Military Academy centennial celebrations later this month, Veterans Affairs Council Minister Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said yesterday.
In comparison, more than 10,000 ROC veterans are expected to attend the centennial celebrations at the academy’s current location in Kaohsiung on Saturday and Sunday next week, Yen said.
The minister reminded veterans who plan to visit China for the celebrations in the Huangpu (also known as Whampoa) District in Guangzhou, China — where the academy was founded by the ROC in 1924 — to follow Taiwanese laws while abroad.
Photo: CNA
They are not allowed to participate in media interviews or make political comments while across the Taiwan Strait, and must not jeopardize the nation’s national security and interests, Yen said.
He made the remarks during a legislative session when asked by lawmakers about the council’s stance on the plans of some veterans to visit China for the centennial.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators have said that the People’s Republic of China’s invitation to Taiwanese to attend the celebrations in China is politically motivated and aimed at promoting unification.
The academy’s first superintendent was Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) who later became ROC president.
At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the academy relocated to Taiwan with the ROC government. It reopened in 1950 in Kaohsiung under the name the ROC Military Academy.
The original Guangzhou site is now a museum.
Meanwhile, the government has compelled seven service members found guilty of breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法) to pay back their pensions, Yen said.
He made the remarks after DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked him for an update on the council’s handling of the matter.
The council in March reported that fourteen retired service members were convicted of national security breaches, and that they collectively owe the government revoked pensions worth NT$45.67 million (US$1.41 million), Lin said.
The council has recovered less than 15 percent of that sum, leaving NT$38.99 million uncollected, she said.
Yen said that the number of convicted personnel has since then increased to 15 and that the council has collected from all but eight of the retired service members.
The Ministry of Justice is now tasked with collection while the council is expected to conduct another audit in the coming months to ensure compliance, he said.
Yen also assured Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) that the council has no plans to remove statutes and portraits of Chiang from facilities it owns.
Yen on Monday visited an assisted living facility for veterans in Taipei that displayed portraits of Chiang and his last wife, Soong Mayling (宋美齡), which the residents maintain each day, he said.
As many veterans share an inseparable spiritual bond with Chiang, the council would not remove or dispose of his imagery, he said.
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