Chiang mausoleums to close down Jan. 1

Shieh made the remarks while commenting on issues concerning the government’s plan to withdraw military guards posted at the Chiangs’ graves in Tashi, Taoyuan County, where their remains are temporarily interred.

Calling the plan part of the government’s efforts to achieve transitional justice, Shieh said the government has been benevolent enough to have dispatched military guards to protect the mausoleums for so many years after the end of martial law in Taiwan.

It would be very unreasonable if anyone were to think the government should continue using taxpayers’ money for the purpose, Shieh said, pointing out that the government has prepared new tombs for the permanent burial of the two late presidents at Taipei County’s Wuchihshan Military Cemetery.

The Ministry of Defense (MND) has decided to close the mausoleums to the public because it fears that they may be damaged after the military stops guarding the premises.

The MND said that it will still handle maintenance work at the mausoleums until the local government takes over their management.

The Taoyuan government has not said how it would manage the mausoleums.

But the county police chief Lin Teh-hua said they might provide the security if the Taoyuan government takes over the mausoleums.

The mausoleums are open to the public almost all year round. If they are closed, it would be the first time since 1989 that the public will be barred from going to the mausoleum for the anniversary of Chiang Ching-kuo’s death on Jan. 13.

The opposition New Party, which reveres both Chiangs, has vowed to hold public events at their mausoleums on Jan. 5.

The central government, under the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party which condemns Chiang Kai-shek as a dictator and murderer, has plans to move the late presidents’ bodies out of the mausoleum, and bury them in a military cemetery in Taipei.

The Liberty Times cited President Chen Shui-bian saying that the government had already allocated NT$39 million two years ago for the reburials of the two late presidents.

But the Chiang family’s objections have delayed the plan, Chen told supporters during a DPP rally.

Chen claimed the government would not wait indefinitely, and has already notified the Chiang family about the deadline for accepting the plan, which is the end of the year.

If they fail to agree, the budget will be canceled in January, Chen said.

But the paper did not say what would become of the reburial plan if the budget is canceled.

According to the United Evening News, the current military office managing the mausoleums has a budget of NT$2.6 million for 2007.

The office once had a staff of almost 100 people, but now it has only 35.

About 80 military troops are currently stationed at Chiang Kai-shek’s mausoleum at Tzuhu, and about 30 at Chiang Ching-kuo’s at nearby Touliao.

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