bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Tributes to Taiwan’s former dictator Chiang Kai-shek will be removed across the island after lawmakers voted in favour of the mandatory axing of symbols of its authoritarian past.
The so-called transitional justice bill, which was passed late on Tuesday, means that streets and schools will be renamed and statues taken down.
It also paves the way for a full investigation into Chiang’s “White Terror” – a purge of his political opponents between 1947 and his death in 1975.
As Taiwan struggles with Chiang Kai-shek’s legacy, a look at how China’s rulers treated their predecessors
Campaigners have long called for the names of unjustly jailed or executed victims to be cleared and perpetrators exposed.
The bill said authoritarian rule should be “stripped of legitimacy” as it violated freedom and democracy.

“For this purpose, institutions, schools, public buildings and spaces should be prohibited from displaying any commemorative symbols of authoritarian rule,” it said.
“Related symbols and signs should also be removed, renamed, or otherwise disposed of.”
President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to ratify the bill within the next two weeks.
Public statues of Chiang are regularly attacked and hundreds now lie discarded in the grounds of his mausoleum outside Taipei.
Unwanted statues of a highly divisive general? Here’s how Taiwan deals with the issue
Since Tsai’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took the leadership and a majority in parliament from the Kuomintang (KMT) in last year’s elections, it has targeted Chiang’s legacy.
Earlier this year it announced a hall in memory of the dictator – one of Taipei’s most recognisable landmarks – would stop selling souvenirs depicting him, while references to him would be removed from its galleries.
That move came on the 70th anniversary of a 1947 massacre which is estimated to have killed 28,000 people and was the prelude to the “White Terror” crackdown.
Chiang’s public profile was also steadily eroded when the DPP first ruled the island from 2000-08, including the renaming of the island’s main airport and his image being scrapped from banknotes.
Taiwan president calls for thaw in ties with mainland China
The new bill is the first time that the removal of authoritarian symbols has been made compulsory.
Chiang fled to Taiwan and ruled the island under martial law after his nationalist Kuomintang troops lost a civil war in 1949 to China’s Communists on mainland.
Although still revered by some as a hero for taking on the communist forces and fighting the Japanese during the second world war, others see him as a stain on the history of the now fully fledged democracy.
As part of the bill, parties must declare all political files they have dating between 1945 and 1992 and could be ordered to hand them over to national archives, as part of an investigation into Chiang’s rule.
Taiwan vows to press on with indigenous arms policy
The DPP described the bill as a “bridge of reconciliation” that would be a “comfort and compensation” to victims and their families.
But the KMT blasted the bill as unconstitutional, saying it gave the DPP an excuse to meddle in the judicial system.
Parliament last year also passed a bill to investigate and seize ill-gotten assets from all parties, but only the KMT has faced questions about its trove, leading to accusations of a witch-hunt.


Japanese PM Takaichi has learned how to do a Washington over Taiwan

What could challenge Washington’s latest strategic goal on Taiwan?

US public backs active role in global affairs, including Taiwan defence, poll finds

Lifeline or rubbish? Taiwan updates disaster and conflict survival guide

Taiwan

Taiwan votes to erase Chiang Kai-shek’s authoritarian legacy with new law

Statues of the late Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek have been moved to a park in Taoyuan in northern Taiwan. Tributes to Chiang will be removed across the island. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 23, 2017 shows a tourist looking at a statue of the late nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek at a park in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. Tributes to Taiwan's former dictator Chiang Kai-shek will be removed across the island after lawmakers voted in favour of the mandatory axing of symbols of its authoritarian past. / AFP PHOTO / SAM YEH

News

China

Politics

Renaming of streets and schools, removal of related symbols made compulsory under new ‘transitional justice bill’
