Taiwan will tear down all remaining statues of Chiang Kai-shek in public spaces
- DPP government says more than 760 statues of Chiang, who ruled the island for nearly three decades, will be swiftly removed
- The move is seen as a bid to erase his legacy and ‘will be seen as an unfriendly gesture towards mainland China’, analyst says
Chiang ruled the island for nearly three decades until his death in 1975. He led his Nationalist or Kuomintang troops to Taiwan in 1949 and set up an interim government on the island, declaring martial law, after being defeated in a civil war by the Communists on the mainland.
The move is likely to unnerve mainland authorities as Chiang, despite fighting the Communists in the civil war and being seen as an enemy by Beijing his entire life, had sought to bring the mainland and Taiwan under the same rule under the Republic of China.
Mainland sentiment towards Chiang has also softened significantly over the past three decades, as he is increasingly seen as part of the historic link between the mainland and Taiwan. His great-grandson Chiang Wan-an, now Taipei’s mayor and a member of the KMT, is seen favourably by the mainland Chinese public and media, in part for his Beijing-friendly stance.
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Future of Chiang Kai-shek statues questioned as Taiwan reckons with former leader’s legacy
Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party government set up a transitional justice commission in 2018 to investigate Chiang’s rule, finding perceived political dissidents had been persecuted and he had misused government funds to benefit the KMT.
