TAIPEI (AFP) ¡ª Taiwan's opposition on Wednesday denounced a government plan to remove the name of late president Chiang Kai-shek from a memorial gate, saying it was the latest move aimed at downplaying his legacy.
The words "Da Chung Chi Cheng" were etched on a large gate of white stone to eulogise Chiang, who led the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) which ruled Taiwan for 51 years until 2000, when it lost power to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Ma Ying-jeou, of the KMT, called the move a campaign ploy by the pro-independence DPP to please its supporters ahead of Taiwan's January parliamentary polls and March 22 presidential vote.
"We condemn such an absurd and arbitrary order as this not only violates (the spirit of) democracy but reflects an authoritarian system, a dictatorial government," said Ma, the party's presidential candidate.
The DPP government has mobilised several hundred police to the gate of five arches topped with blue tile roofs that leads to the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall complex in Taipei, which also used to be named after Chiang.
Scores of protesters have massed outside the gate, vowing to block the name removal. Some scuffled with police in the evening when they tried to remove a man pretending to be a police officer, but no one was injured.
Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin, of the KMT, has challenged the legitimacy of the removal and ordered barricades set up outside the gate.
The education ministry, which supervises operations of the memorial hall, adopted the hall's new name in May and said Chiang's name would be removed as early as dawn Thursday in accordance with the law.
In August, the DPP government cancelled two public holidays honouring Chiang, saying it was inappropriate to honour a leader with a chequered legacy. It also has removed Chiang's statues from military sites and dropped his name from the international airport.
The DPP has held Chiang responsible for the February 28, 1947, massacre in which thousands of local people were killed by nationalist troops during riots.
But Chiang, who died in 1975, is remembered by many as the leader who laid the foundation of Taiwan's economic prosperity and safeguarded the island from Chinese invasion.
President Chen Shui-bian, however, has branded Chiang a "dictator" and said he should not be honoured by the Taiwanese people.