In response to the recent dispute involving the diaries of the late former presidents Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo, President Ma stated on Thursday that either on behalf of the government or of the KMT, he is more than willing to help settle the conflict between members of the Chiang family. Ma also emphasized that these diaries are of great historical value and should be viewed as public property.

Fourth generation Chiang descendent Chiang You-mei is accusing her aunt, Elizabeth Chiang, of not obtaining authorization before sending the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Jing-kuo to the U.S.

According to a signed management agreement under Stanford University's Hoover Institution, the decision should have been approved by all nine heirs of the Chiang family.

As the two parties have yet to settle the dispute, Chiang You-mei is considering taking the matter to court.

President Ma, who is acts as KMT Party Chair, says he is willing to step in to settle the situation.

Ma says he hopes both parties will be able to reach a peaceful agreement, and have the 50 plus year diary accounts shipped back to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the Academica Sinica's Institute of Modern History has been planning for over a year to publish Chiang Kai-shek's diary and hopes the Chiang family will release publishing rights.

According to the director of the Academica Sinica Institute of Modern History, the organization hopes to transcribe all audiovisual documents within three years and obtain annotations on all the locations and historical figures before publication.

Originally CommonWealth Magazine was going to cooperate with former Executive Yuan Premier Hau Pei-tsun on compiling Chiang's diary and publishing it next week.

The publication was to contain the diary accounts of Chiang Kai-shek's life as a general in the years 1945-1949.

As inheritance disputes over the diaries of the two former Chiang leaders continue within the Chiang family, the KMT party will have to step in before the general public can expect to see the contents of the diaries.