Chen Lien-hua (陳蓮花), one of three known surviving former “comfort women” in Taiwan, died of intestinal infection on Thursday at the age of 93, said the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, a group that advocates for the rights of former Word War II comfort women.
Chen was taken to hospital last month when she complained of stomach pain. Doctors said her intestines had torn.
After surgery, Chen became very weak. She died with her family at her side, doctors said.
Photo provided by Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation
Born in Taiwan in 1924, Chen was given up for adoption and from a young age worked at a factory. When she was 19, a Japanese person came to the factory under the guise of recruiting “caregivers” and took more than 20 women, including Chen, by boat to the Philippines.
After arriving in the Philippines she and the other women were forced into “sexual slavery” for Japanese soldiers.
After nearly two years in the Philippines, she was one of only two of the more than 20 Taiwanese women taken as comfort women who returned to Taiwan alive, the foundation said.
Chen married a Taiwanese man she met in the Philippines, who was a Japanese Imperial Army soldier.
Chen was initially reluctant to tell people her story for fear of being shamed, but later she agreed to help the foundation and others raise awareness about this often overlooked period in history.
She said she was touched by the care and support shown to her by social workers and others working for redress and fighting for justice for the women.
Chen often attended public activities to tell her story and criticize the then-Japanese military’s inhumane treatment and urge the Japanese government to apologize.
In December last year she attended the opening ceremony of the Ama Museum.
“Seeing all of you with so much love in your heart, taking care of Amas; I am really grateful,” she said at the ceremony.
Ama means “grandma” or “elderly woman” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
However, as she predicted, Chen did not receive an apology from the Japanese government for her sexual slavery, the foundation said on Friday.
She told international media with tears in her eyes: “We are very old. We may be long gone when Japan is happy enough to make compensation.”
The last two known Taiwanese surviving former comfort women are Aborigines who live in Hualien County, the foundation said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS