Dozens of veterans to visit China for Whampoa Military Academy centennial

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Fewer than 100 Republic of China (Taiwan) veterans are expected to visit China for the Whampoa Military Academy centennial celebrations later this month, the head of Taiwan's top government agency in charge of retired servicepersons said Wednesday.

In comparison, Yen De-fa (嚴德發), head of the Veterans Affairs Council (VAC), said more than 10,000 ROC veterans are expected to attend the Whampoa Military Academy centennial celebrations in Taiwan on June 15 and 16 at the academy's current location in Kaohsiung.

Yen also reminded Taiwanese veterans who plan to visit China for the centennial celebrations to be staged at Whampoa -- also known as Huangpu, Guangzhou, in China's Guangdong province, where the academy was first founded in 1924 -- to follow Taiwanese laws while visiting there.

They are not allowed to take media interviews, nor make political comments while on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, and must not jeopardize Taiwan's national security and interests, Yen said.

Yen made the remarks during a legislative session when asked by lawmakers about the VAC's stance on the plans of some veterans to visit China for the academy's centennial celebrations.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have argued that the People's Republic of China's (PRC) invitation to Taiwanese citizens to attend the celebrations in China is a politically motivated move aimed at promoting unification.

The academy was founded by the ROC government when it was still based in mainland China as the Whampoa Military Academy at Huangpu (Whampoa) in 1924.

Its first superintendent was Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) who later became ROC president.

At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, together with the ROC government, the academy relocated to Taiwan. It reopened in 1950 in Kaohsiung under the name of the ROC Military Academy.

The original Guangzhou site is now a museum.