Reported by: Jhuang Huan-Ning at County Hall
Many battle sites in Kinmen County are rich in historical significance. Yesterday, the Kinmen Defense Command (KDC) unilaterally demolished Fort Sanshih Mountain and Fuguo Warehouse at Shancian without informing the Kinmen County Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAA), causing distress to many local countrymen and culture-history workers who dedicate themselves to cultural resource preservation. Legislator Yang Jhen-Wu of the County was highly concerned, inviting relevant agencies to jointly inspect the site yesterday and calling a meeting to discuss subsequent measures to preserve Kinmen’s historical battlefield sites.
In response to the demolition of Fort Sanshih Mountain and Fuguo Warehouse at Shancian, yesterday at 1:30 pm, Legislator Yang Jhen-Wu called a “Coordinating Meeting for Rescuing Kinmen’s Cultural Assets” at the Kinmen Service Office, and went to the site for inspection. Participants included Major General Jhang Da-Wei, Director of the Construction and Facility Division of Armaments Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense (MND); Major General Shih Shun-Wun, Director of the Political Warfare Office of the Kinmen Defense Command (KDC); Executive Officer Jhou Zong-Yi of MND’s Department of Resources Planning; Officer Jhang Min-Wei of Armaments Bureau’s Kinmen Section; Jheng You-Liang, former Director of the Kinmen County Veterans Service Office (VSO); and Chen Zih-Ciang and Dong Sen-Bao of the Kinmen County Battlefield History Association (BHA).
Director Shih Shun-Wun of KDC’s Political Warfare Office stated that the KDC bears certain responsibilities for the preservation and demolition of military remains; it has conducted comparisons on the differences between the nearby artillery fortresses in the last two days. Regarding Legislator Yang calling meetings to discuss subsequent handling measures, he suggested forming a review group on the protection of historical battle remains as a review mechanism, so that the KDC can meet with relevant County Government agencies to conduct reviews case by case before proceeding with the subsequent handling or demolishing operation.
Director Jhang Da-Wei of the Armaments Bureau stressed that the military authority puts great concern on the preservation of cultural remnants. The Sanshih Mountain case was in response to the demand of the Control Yuan to dismantle the site in accordance with regulations, so as to return the land to the people. In the future, for any building demolition for the recovery of private land, the military will review case by case, listening to the opinions of the County Government, historical society, and other relevant agencies. He also suggested in the future adopting land trade-off as the way to return land to the people, and coordinating with the County Government to handle the cases.
Former VSO Director Jheng You-Liang first thanked the BHA for providing considerable assistance in the preservation of Kinmen’s battlefield historical remains. He pointed out that there are many historical sites of military engineering remains in Kinmen. To preserve these precious battlefield historical remains, a coordinated platform can be created to strengthen the integration mechanism. Relevant County Government agencies such as the Tourism Department, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Armaments Bureau, and the National Park can take charge of the establishment of overall inventory of battlefield historical remains, meeting regularly with relevant agencies to review, inspect, and assess their military history and special value, and build the archive; especially when Kinmen is promoting itself as a potential world heritage site, it should include battlefield historical remains and actively entrust professional agencies to promote on its behalf.
The BHA President Chen Zih-Ciang said that the BHA did not blame anyone for this incident; it suggested that in the future, inter-departmental cooperation and land trade-off measures should be adopted for these issues; if one fortress was sacrificed in this incident and yet more were saved, this would be a positive development. He hoped that Legislator Yang Jhen-Wu is able to make efforts in the central government to voice and strive for the preservation of Kinmen’s battlefield historical remains.
Dong Sen-Bao, Executive Director of the BHA, also put forward a number of proposals. Concerning cultural assets assessment, he suggested that the County Government establishes a compensation mechanism; on land inheritance, which was brought up by the Armaments Bureau, that capital gain shall be taxed in relation to buildings, he suggested Legislator Yang Jhen-Wu pursues law amendment at the Legislative Yuan for residents that inherit current military lands and buildings to waive capital gain tax, so as to relieve the burden on local countrymen. In addition, he suggested setting up a coordination platform including the National Property Administration (NPA), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of Culture (MOC), and other relevant agencies, and initiating a two-factor authentication mechanism for the investigation of battlefield historical remains. In the future, the coordination platform will follow regulations of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (CHPA) to preserve Kinmen’s precious battlefield resources.
Legislator Yang Jhen-Wu stated that the coordination meeting was meant to discuss the preservation of Kinmen’s precious battlefield historical remains, and to call on relevant agencies to face the recurring issue of cultural asset damage in Kinmen. He coordinated everyone’s opinions into several conclusions, including suspending the demolition of military facilities in the County; suggesting the County Government invite MND, KDC, MOC, NPA and relevant authorities, together with BHA’s scholars and experts to set up a Kinmen cultural heritage preservation team within one month; and following the CHPA regulations to initiate inventory lists for the management of all public buildings in the County that are over 50 years or with cultural value for preservation.
In addition, he suggested conducting overall surveys on battlefield historical remains for classification, inviting scholars, experts, and representatives from different fields to discuss the definition and assessment, and giving priority to the protection of local citizens’ interests and land justice, where compensation measures is to be deliberated.