Taiwan's Kuomintang government yesterday restored the name of Chiang Kai-shek to a Taipei hall built in memory of the island's late leader.
The restoration came 18 months after pro-independence former president Chen Shui-bian replaced the memorial's nameplate with 'National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall' in a bid to downplay Chiang's legacy in Taiwan.
More than 300 police officers were sent yesterday to keep order, and barbed-wire barricades had been set up overnight to keep pro-independence protesters from disrupting the restoration work. When the memorial's nameplate was taken down by the Democratic Progressive Party government in January last year, it triggered a violent partisan clash.
But only a handful of pro-independence supporters showed up yesterday to protest against the restoration. They said the move would only intensify political strife in Taiwan and polarise the island.
Officials, however, insisted that it was necessary.
'The restoration of the 'Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall' nameplate is in line with the legislature's decision and the due process of law, as the former administration had never completed the legal procedures before removing the nameplate,' hall manager Tseng Kun-ti said. The Chen administration failed to get approval from the KMT-dominated legislature to replace the nameplate.