Chen, the newly elected mayor from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had the statue of President Chiang taken apart and hauled away from the Kaohsiung Cultural Center on March 13.

It was part of a series of moves by the DPP to try to remove all honors given to Chiang Kai-shek. Its attempts followed the recent anniversary of the bloody February 28 Incident of 1947, which DPP leaders blamed on the former president.

John Chiang, of the opposition KMT, visited the Kaohsiung district court yesterday to file briefs to initiate litigation against the Kaohsiung mayor.

Chiang demanded that Chen run an open apology in three major newspapers in Taiwan and pay NT$1 in damages.

“It’s an open insult to my grandfather,” said John Chiang, a former foreign minister and secretary-general of the opposition Kuomintang.

The mayor refused to apologize.

“Let him sue,” Chen said.

Moreover, the mayor said, the Kuomintang legislator should visit museums in Kaohsiung and listen to the people to find out how his grandfather “massacred” innocent men and women in the February 28 Incident of 1947.

“It’s John Chiang who has to apologize to the people of Kaohsiung on behalf of his grandfather,” Chen said.

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