Taiwan to stop ‘worshipping authoritarianism’ at Chiang Kai-shek statue

Changing of guard ceremonies in memorial hall for island’s first president will be moved outside from next week.

Taiwanese honour guards will no longer perform changing of the guard ceremonies around a giant statue of the island’s first president, Chiang Kai-shek, as part of a national effort to stop “worshipping authoritarianism”.

Starting from Monday, the elaborate military performance will be moved outdoors to Taipei’s Democracy Boulevard, close to the capital’s iconic blue and white memorial hall dedicated to Chiang, which houses his 21-foot (6.3-metre) bronze statue.

“Eliminating worshipping a cult of personality and eliminating worshipping authoritarianism is the current goal for promoting transitional justice,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement on Friday.

Chiang and his nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) troops fled from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949 to set up a rival government after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists.

Generally lauded in life as an anti-communist hero, many in modern Taiwan revile him as a despot who imprisoned and killed thousands of opponents during his rule.

When he died in 1975, his son Chiang Ching-kuo took over and began tentative steps towards more political openness, paving the way to the country’s first direct presidential election in 1996.

Today, the country’s Transitional Justice Commission is investigating cases of political persecution that took place during the “white terror” campaign against dissent of Chiang’s rule.

Many Taiwanese youth believe Chiang’s legacy is redolent of what they perceive as authoritarianism in mainland China, which views Taiwan as its territory and wants to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

Taiwan has in recent years reduced Chiang’s posthumous profile, removing hundreds of other statues of the former leader to a lakeside park close to his mausoleum in the northern city of Taoyuan.

In 2006, the name of the island’s main international airport was changed from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport to Taoyuan International Airport.

Families of the victims of a 1947 massacre perpetrated by Chiang’s nationalist troops have long demanded his statue in the Taipei memorial hall also be removed.