More than 40,000 people visited the memorial for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) at the Taipei Guest House before it closed yesterday.
The 16-day memorial ended as Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) led the entire staff overseeing the memorial in bowing three times before a portrait of Lee, who died on July 30 at the age of 97.
Presidential Office statistics showed a total of 43,067 visitors, with 3,899 showing up yesterday, a daily high.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The parents of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) were among those who paid their respects over the 16-day period, with Ko’s mother, Ho Jui-ying (何瑞英), leaving a note on a memorial wall saying that Lee as Taiwan’s “greatest and wisest president, who was intellectual, friendly and loved the people,” while Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), wrote “Thank you again and again. It was the Taiwanese’s honor to have you in Taiwan.”
Meanwhile, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Representative Hiroyasu Izumi, who paid his respects to Lee on the day the memorial opened, yesterday voiced his appreciation for Lee’s contributions to Taiwan’s democracy and Taiwan-Japan relations.
The long lines of people waiting to say farewell to Lee were a testimony one of his most famous quote — “always bear the public’s interests in mind,” Izumi said. “May you rest in peace, Mr Lee, and please continue to guide us in the future.”
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, sources said a public memorial service for Lee is being planned for the Grand Chapel of Aletheia University in New Taipei City, perhaps on Sept. 19.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would attend, and confer honors in recognition of Lee’s contributions to the nation, they added.
Members of the Lee funeral committee are to meet on Wednesday to discuss the details.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS