Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew (
Lee wrote the letter of condolence in his private capacity, the secretary said, adding that the letter was addressed to Chiang Hsu Nai-chin (
In the letter, Lee said he was a good friend of the late ROC president. He also recalled how during his previous visits to Taiwan, he had taken lunch with the Chiangs at their official residence in suburban Taipei on several occasions.
simple taste
Russian-born Faina Chiang met her husband while he was in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. A woman of simple taste with a technical school education, Faina Chiang left her homeland in 1936 when she joined her husband to return to China.
She had to adjust to joining one of China's most powerful families at the time. China was ruled by her father-in-law, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (
She fled to Taiwan along with her family in 1949. Her husband became president in 1978 and ended 38 years of martial law just months before he died in 1988. He also oversaw the island's spectacular economic development in the 1980s.
Faina Chiang avoided the spotlight and was known as Taiwan's most low-key first lady.
The couple had three sons and one daughter together.
The three sons have all died, while the daughter, Chiang Hsiao-chang, presently lives in the US with her family.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,