Cheng Chen Tao (鄭陳桃), one of Taiwan’s few surviving “comfort women,” died of pneumonia in a hospital in Pingtung County on Monday. She was 93.
Due to her ailing physical state, on Oct. 21 last year, Cheng Chen moved to the Southern Region Senior Citizens’ Home in Pingtung City from her previous residence in Linluo Township (麟洛), about 10km east of the city. She weighed only 23kg when she moved into the nursing home.
Cheng Chen had been hospitalized at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Pingtung Hospital twice after her move to the nursing care facility.
Cheng Chen married twice and is survived by an adopted daughter and an adopted son.
The term “comfort women” euphemistically describes women from East Asia, including several thousand Taiwanese, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
Cheng Chen was forced to work at a Japanese military brothel in the Andaman Islands, an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, in the early 1940s.
She and three other former comfort women sued the Japanese government for an apology and compensation in 1999. However, they lost the case.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed his sorrow about Cheng Chen’s death and regret she did not receive a formal apology from the Japanese government, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said.
Ma also said all those concerned about former Taiwanese comfort women would also lament Cheng Chen’s death, especially as it leaves only three Taiwanese survivors after her passing, Chen said on Thursday.
Chen said Ma would attend a memorial service for Cheng Chen next week.
Of the three surviving comfort women, two are 92 years old and the third is 87, said Kang Shu-hua (康淑華), executive director of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, which has long offered assistance to Taiwanese comfort women.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS