Taipei schools do not have to remove statues, city saysBy Tsai Ya-hua and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, staff writer, with CNATaipei schools do not have to remove statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), the city’s Department of Education said last week, despite criticism from the Transitional Justice Commission. Taipei Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Chen Su-hui (陳素慧) on Tuesday last week said that the city’s policy is to let each school and community decide what to do with the schools’ 64 statues. Independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟) on April 12 said the city was “going through the motions” of transitional justice by covering up slogans on the statues instead of removing them altogether. Photo courtesy of Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-mengTransitional Justice Commission spokeswoman Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) the following day said the city’s “total decontextualization” of the statues is inappropriate under the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which she said requires the city to “remove ... the permanency” of the statues. However, Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs Deputy Commissioner Tien Wei (田瑋) said that Chiang’s former residence is a national heritage site, which means any plan to store statues there must receive approval from the Ministry of Culture.

Source: Taipei Times May 09, 2021 15:56 UTC