"Two Chiang Diaries" will be transported back to Chiang Ching kuo from the United States in the second half of the year | Documents | Diaries
According to Taiwan's "China Times News Network" on July 20th, the dispute over the ownership of 51 boxes of documents stored by Chiang Kai shek and Chiang Ching kuo at Stanford University for nearly 18 years has finally settled after a 10-year dispute. The United States District Court located in San Jose, California, determined on July 11 that ownership of the document belongs to the National History Museum in Taiwan.
Chen Yishen, the director of the National History Museum, stated on the 19th that someone has been sent to the United States to conduct an inventory and can be transported back in the second half of the year. The diary content of Chiang Kai shek from 1948 to 1954 is expected to be published by the end of October.
According to reports, these 51 boxes of documents document the most eye-catching international political events and diplomatic insider information of the last century. However, who should own these historically valuable documents has been at the core of the legal dispute between the Taiwan authorities, the Chiang family, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University over the past decade.
The Stanford archives include the diaries of Chiang Kai shek from 1917 to 1972, the diaries of Chiang Ching kuo from 1937 to 1979, as well as speeches, letters, and political archives of the two during their tenure.
According to reports, Lin Xiaoting, a researcher at the Hoover Institution, pointed out that these archives provide information on important events, including the 1971 United Nations war for Chinese representation, as well as many political insider information, such as Chiang Kai shek's correspondence with former US presidents Kennedy and Nixon.
According to reports, the US District Court located in San Jose resolved a 10-year legal lawsuit involving 15 members of the Chiang family and relevant institutions of the Taiwan authorities on the 11th. With a series of judgments and settlement agreements, it was determined that the ownership of these documents belongs to the Taiwan National History Museum.
According to reports, these archives were loaned to the Hoover Institution by Jiang Jingguo's daughter-in-law, Jiang Fangzhi, in 2005. She authorized the institution to provide copies of the documents to interested scholars, and she and six other members of the Jiang family subsequently signed a consent letter to transfer ownership to the National History Museum. However, later on, Jiang Youmei, the granddaughter of Jiang Jingguo, advocated that these diaries should be kept at the Jiang family and not handed over to the National History Museum.
The report stated that the Hoover Institution, with academic considerations as the main starting point, filed a civil lawsuit against all parties claiming and potentially possessing cultural relics in September 2013.The US District Court also recognized this ruling.
According to reports, members of the Jiang family have gradually reached a settlement with the "National History Museum" to transfer ownership. In May of this year, Jiang Youmei became the last member of the Jiang family to agree.