Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The face of a statue of Lien Ya-tang (連雅堂) in Tainan, grandfather of former Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), has been painted red, police in Tainan said on Saturday.

The incident came in the wake of Lien Chan's attendance of a Sept. 3 military parade in Beijing to celebrate victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945).

Lien's visit was criticized as being tantamount to endorsing the Chinese Communist Party's claim that it played a "pivotal" role in the war, which deviates from the government's position that the Nationalist forces led the campaign against Japan throughout the eight-year war.

Police said that only the face of the statue was painted red, indicating that someone had probably climbed up the structure from its pedestal, because if the paint had been thrown it would have splashed other parts of the statue.

The statue is located in Tainan Park, near Tainan Municipal Library.

This is the second time the statue of Lien Ya-tang, a noted historian who authored the General History of Taiwan, has been vandalized this year.

On the eve of the Feb. 28 Peace Memorial Day, the pedestal of the statue was daubed with words denigrating the Lien family, to the effect that Lien's forefathers ingratiated themselves with Japan and Lien is now doing the same with China.

(By Chang Jung-kung and Lilian Wu)
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