The president of National Taiwan Normal University yesterday rebuffed the Taiwan Association of University Professors' call to remove a statue of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the campus. Guo Yih-shun (郭義雄) told the group to mind its own business.
Guo said he respected the professors' opinions, but the fate of the statue should be decided by the school's faculty and students.
Following President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call for a purge of all relics related to Chiang, the association went to the country's most prestigious teacher training university to demand that its statue of Chiang be removed.
Association head Tsai Kuei-ting (蔡貴丁) said removing the statue would show the school's resolve to embrace a democratic Taiwan and bid farewell to the authoritarian era.
"Chiang was the main instigator of the 228 Incident and was responsible for the White Terror. History shows he was one of the most murderous dictators of recent times. He is definitely not a hero, but rather the biggest criminal in the history of Taiwan," Tsai said.
He urged the statue be removed immediately, before "more students are misled" on the real history of Taiwan.
Guo, however, said the statue should be regarded as a work of art, not a political icon.
"The statue was made possible by a school-wide fundraiser. It was completed by the students under the guidance of a fine arts professor and a sculpture master," he said.
"The artistic value of the statue is very high and it should not be politicized," Guo said, appealing to the public to view Taiwan's past with love and tolerance.
Sarina Lee, 22, a music major at the school, said the statue held no significance for her other friends because "it is just a lifeless object."
"I don't think people will be more patriotic once the statue is removed because no one really pays any attention to it. If the pan-green camp wants people to forget about Chiang, then they have failed because that's all people ever talk about now," she said.
Fine arts professor Yang Shu-huang (楊樹煌) said the school should auction the statue, which is estimated to be worth NT$100 million (US$3.09 million). The money could be used on a campus beautification project, while the statue would be owned by someone who would cherish it, he said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the