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TAOYUAN, Taiwan: Taiwan's president-elect Ma Ying-jeou on Saturday paid tribute to former nationalist Kuomintang leader and president Chiang Kai-shek on the 33rd anniversary of his death.
The solemn ceremony came after Ma trounced Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Frank Hsieh in a March 22 election to regain the power his party lost eight years ago.
Ma, vice president-elect Vincent Siew and senior party officials were greeted by thousands of people who queued outside Chiang's mausoleum in Tashi, Taoyuan county, to honour the leader, who ruled Taiwan until his death in 1975.
Chiang – who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists – is remembered by some as laying the foundation for the island's economic prosperity and safeguarding it from a Chinese invasion.
But the outgoing President Chen Shui-bian has branded him a "dictator" and held him responsible for a 1947 massacre in which thousands of locals were killed by Kuomintang troops during riots.
Ma also visited the nearby mausoleum of Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, who was president from 1978 to 1988.
"Their merits and faults can be discussed by historians but they left behind many important historical and cultural heritages ... which should be preserved," Ma said while unveiling a memorial park dedicated to the Chiangs later Saturday.
The park houses the largest sitting statue of Chiang Kai-shek, which was moved here from southern Kaohsiung city after it was dismantled last year as part of the DPP's controversial efforts to downplay his legacy.
Chen's government shut down the mausoleums of both Chiangs in December citing budgetary concerns and a lack of manpower. They were temporarily open to the public on Saturday.
The government had already cancelled two public holidays honouring Chiang Kai-shek after removing his statues from military sites and taking his name off a memorial hall and the international airport outside Taipei.
- AFP/so
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