Koo Cheng-fu (辜振甫), the former Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman who died in early January, was laid to rest in a cemetery on a scenic farm in Kaohsiung County yesterday.
Koo -- who held a historic ice-breaking meeting with Beijing's chief negotiator with Taiwan, Wang Daohan (
Koo's coffin was moved on Tuesday from Taipei to the Fukuangshan Monastery, where Buddhist master Hsing Yun (
PHOTO: CNA
In his memorial prayer, Reverend Hsing Yun lauded Koo as having lit up the world and done everything in his power to benefit the people.
Koo, a business tycoon who also had a talent for writing poetry and singing Peking opera, was appointed chairman of the foundation in March 1991
Although Koo's family had tried to keep the burial ceremony low-profile, the funeral procession totaled about 100 vehicles, including several tourist buses.
According to the family, a memorial museum similar to the Koo Museum located in Lukang, Changhua County will be built next to the cemetery where Koo is buried.
The farm on which the cemetery is located was reportedly part of a 3,000-hectare tract that Koo's father, Koo Hsien-jung (
According to the family, Koo was still worrying about the tension between Taiwan and China even in his final days.
Koo visited China in October 1998 and met with then Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
Koo also served as head of the Chinese National Federation of Industries and of the Chinese National Association of Industry & Commerce, contributing greatly to the nation's economic development.
A senior adviser to both former president Lee Teng-hui (
Koo's passing was termed by some political observers as tantamount to the symbolic death of cross-strait relations, given that the two sides had been at a complete political impasse since July 1999 after Lee described the cross-strait relationship as "state-to-state" in nature.
Condolences for Koo's passing came not only from around Taiwan and China, but also from the US and Japan, where Koo had had prominent business and political connections.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai