AP News, December 8th, 2007
Workmen on Friday began removing giant Chinese characters from a memorial previously dedicated to Chiang Kai-shek, the latest action in the Taiwan government's campaign to eradicate the "one China" legacy of the late dictator.
Pro- and anti-Chiang demonstrators, separated by riot police, chanted and sang as workmen used a crane to dismantle the characters. There were no reports of violence on Friday.
The memorial, previously called the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, was rededicated earlier this year to commemorate the democratic movement.
The four metal characters, each about 5 feet tall, contained an alternative name for Chiang — Chong Cheng — amid a well-known philosophical phrase from the early 16th century. The phrase, "Ta Chong Chih Cheng," means impartiality.
Chiang and his Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan after losing to Mao Zedong's Communist forces in China's civil war nearly 60 years ago.
Chiang, who led Taiwan from 1949 until his death in 1975, was a strong advocate of eventual unity between Taiwan and China — an idea vigorously rejected by President Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party government.
Violence flared at the memorial on Thursday, when a truck driver identified as Peng Sheng-lu drove his vehicle at a group of TV cameramen, injuring one critically.
Police initially said that Peng acted without malice but later charged him with attempted murder. Taiwan's mass circulation Apple Daily reported Friday that flags promoting unification between Taiwan and China were found in his vehicle.
The government's decision to dismantle the memorial's Chinese characters comes ahead of a presidential election in March that will pit Frank Hsieh of the DPP against Ma Ying-jeou, who favors Taiwan's unification with the mainland.
The DPP government last year began efforts to delegitimize Chiang's legacy. It also has ordered the removal of Chiang's name from Taiwan's main international airport, and dismantled dozens of Chiang statues from military bases around the island.
