Taiwan's Soviet-born former first lady Faina Chiang Fang-liang (
"When the services are done, the former first lady's body will be cremated in Keelung. After that, her ashes will be located along with former president Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) coffin in the temporary mausoleum in Touliao, Taoyuan County," said navy Captain Liou Chih-chien (劉志堅), spokesman for the ministry.
"She will be eventually buried with the two former president Chiangs at Wuchih Military Cemetery in the spring," he added.
According to the ministry, at the funeral services Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweights Lee Huan (李煥), Hau Pei-tsun (
Asked why Faina Chiang would be cremated in Keelung, Liou said that it was a decision made by the Chiang family.
The spokesman said that only the hospital's funeral chapels and the Touliao temporary mausoleum will be open to the public. The rest of the funeral services will be restricted to family members only.
Currently, the embalmed bodies of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo were put in temporary mausoleums in Taoyuan County's Tzuhu (慈湖) and Touliao (頭寮) respectively, originally awaiting proper burial in their hometown in Zhejiang Province in southeastern China once the KMT's forces conquered China, which they were unable to do.
At the family's behest, the ministry will help relocate the coffins to the Wuchih Military Cemetery in March or April.
In the meantime, their tomb designer also prepared another two sites for their wives -- Soong Mayling (蔣宋美齡) and Faina Chiang. However, the Chiangs do not have a plan to use one of the extra sites for Soong since she was buried in Manhattan, New York.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were