TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan will remove military honor guard from former leader’s memorial hall Chiang Kai-shek as part of ongoing efforts to end the “veneration of authoritarianism”, the Ministry of Culture said on Friday.
Generally praised in life as an anti-communist hero, today many in Taiwan revile Chiang as a despot who imprisoned and killed opponents during his rule. Chiang retreated to the island with his Republic of China government in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.
When he died in 1975, his son Chiang Ching-kuo took over and initiated provisional measures towards greater political openness.
Old Chiang’s memorial, with its gigantic bronze statue, dominates downtown Taipei. The Ministry of Culture said that from Monday military honor guards will be transferred from their ceremonial duties inside the hall to the square in front of it.
“The Ministry of Culture also considers ‘removing the cult of personality’ and ‘ending the veneration of authoritarianism’ as the transitional justice objectives of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall at this stage,” it said in a statement.
Taiwan, which is now a democracy, has a Transitional Justice Commission tasked with investigating cases of political persecution that occurred during the “white terror” campaign against dissent by Chiang’s government.
Martial law only ended in Taiwan in 1987, with the first direct presidential election held in 1996.
In recent years, Taiwan has gradually reduced Chiang’s public presence, including in 2006 when it renamed the island’s main international airport from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport to Taoyuan International Airport.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
