President Chiang Kai-shek on the NT$200 banknote (photo courtesy of Chi-Hung Lin) President Chiang Kai-shek on the NT$200 banknote (photo courtesy of Chi-Hung Lin) (Wikimedia Commons photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – If the new transitional justice legislation requires it, symbols of authoritarian rule such as effigies of President Chiang Kai-shek could be removed from the country’s banknotes and coins, new Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said Thursday.

The government is preparing to form a Transitional Justice Committee, with one of its tasks taking a closer look at remnants of the Martial Law era, in particular the presence of Chiang statues on school campuses and on government land.

If the law demanded that such symbols were also removed from currency, then the Central Bank would of course respect the law, Yang told lawmakers during a question-and-answer session Thursday morning.

The cost of a complete redesign was estimated at NT$50 billion (US$1.7 billion), the Chinese-language United Daily News reported, but Yang emphasized that banknotes showing mountains, animals and sports scenes would not have to be withdrawn.

The Central Bank chief, who took office late last month, denied he was doing things differently from his predecessor, Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南), who ran the bank for 20 years. The institution’s leadership had already agreed on the measures before Perng’s departure, Yang said.

Chiang’s effigy still features on the rarely seen NT$200 banknote, and on the NT$1, NT$5 and NT$10 coins.