Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) and his wife, Chang Hui-chun (張惠君), rushed to Shanghai yesterday after their only daughter, Kuan Yun-ti (關雲娣), died suddenly.
She had allegedly jumped to her death.
As a politically appointee, John Kuan was required by the Act Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) to apply for government permission before going to China.
The Ministry of the Interior approved his application yesterday afternoon. He is the most senior official to travel to China since restrictions on travel to China were eased in 1987.
“Since it’s an emergency and out of humanitarian concern, we took care of the application in the fastest possible manner,” Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said.
Upon receiving the application, the ministry sent the documents to the other necessary agencies via fax — normally, the application would be reviewed in a meeting — and since “no one had any questions, we gave it a ‘go’ right away,” Chien said.
The approval came down about 4pm and John Kuan departed from Taipei International Airport (Songshan) on a 5:15pm China Eastern Airlines flight.
Approached by reporters at the airport, John Kuan said he had obtained special permission from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to go to China.
Kuan Yun-ti married a Chinese man in March last year in a ceremony at a Phuket, Thailand, resort. She is survived by her daughter and husband.
Chang, who left Taipei on an earlier flight as her husband awaited government permission for his trip, insinuated her daughter’s death was triggered by her son-in-law having an affair.
“Let me tell you directly. She was married for less than one year. I don’t blame anyone. Who falls in love with somebody else, who has done what … Why did she die this way? I beg all the children in the world not to harm your parents [like this]. That’s it. Please don’t ask me any questions. I am in such sorrow,” Chang said when approached for comments.
Chang said her daughter had recently been in low spirits. She said she wanted to tell young people that there was no question in the world that could not be resolved and no frustration that could not be overcome, so they should never think of committing suicide.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’: Any delay in the passage of the remaining funds would weaken Taiwan’s security and play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, the AIT said While welcoming the Legislative Yuan’s approval of a supplementary defense budget, the US Department of State said that further delays to Taiwan military spending are a “concession” to China. The remarks came after the legislature on Friday passed the budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of military equipment from the US, with total spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion). One package allocates NT$300 billion for arms sales approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, while the other sets aside NT$480 billion for an arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The
RSS