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One of the top stories from this past week was that the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) was planning to discuss whether to discipline former Vice President Lien Chan. Lien is currently an honorary chairman of the party. There have been calls to expel Lien from the KMT because he attended a military parade in China commemorating the end of World War II despite objections from his own party. While in China, Lien also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
When talking to the media on Friday, KMT chairman Eric Chu said that the KMT deserves credit for leading China through WWII. The Republic of China government, which relocated to Taiwan in 1949 following the Chinese Civil War, has maintained that Chinese communists played only a minor role in the war effort.
Aside from Lien, no KMT officials attended the events held in China to commemorate the war’s end. Many Western leaders also opted not to attend, for fear that it would be seen as a sign of support for China’s efforts to build up its military.
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Also this past week, President Ma Ying-jeou said that the Republic of China government deserved credit for leading China through WWII. He was speaking on Thursday at an event marking Armed Forces Day.
Ma said that he agreed with former President Lee Teng-hui’s words that the Republic of China played a vital role in the war.
Close to 700 people were at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei to attend the event.
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And finally, this past week, an Italian auction house Casa D’Aste Della Rocca says that a flower painting that it put up for auction in 2012 is by Mario Nuzzi, not Paolo Porpora.
The oil painting of flowers in a vase gained worldwide attention in late August when a Taiwanese boy stumbled and punched a hole in the painting at an exhibition in Taipei.
The exhibition’s organizer said that the damaged painting was a 17th-century work by Paolo Porpora called Flowers. The organizer said the painting was worth US$1.5 million. The damaged work of art has since been repaired and put back on display.
However, the Italian auction house told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that its experts has confirmed that the painting is by Mario Nuzzi. But that is disputed by the Italian organizer of the exhibition in Taipei.