TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Management Office announced on Tuesday (Dec. 12) that it would initiate a comprehensive smoking ban and eliminate its designated smoking areas to maintain the integrity of the park's recreational environment.
The move comes after Taiwanese entertainer Tai Chih-yuan, 58, criticized the memorial's park administration a day earlier for cutting down trees to establish a smoking zone, actions he deemed detrimental to the environment.
In response, the office clarified that the smoking area was created in 2009 and its establishment had no connection to the removal of the trees, which were infested with brown root rot disease.
The action to cut down the trees was taken to ensure public safety and to prevent the spread of the disease to other trees in the area, according to a statement issued by the office.
Following the confirmation of the condition of the trees from the Ministry of Agriculture's Forestry Research Institute, the office immediately provided public notice detailing the reasons for the trees' removal and carried out necessary operations.