Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday concluded his round-the-nation trip with a final stop in Yilan County, saying that his final wish was to visit Yushan (玉山), the highest mountain in Taiwan.
“I’ve asked my doctor about [visiting Yushan] and was told that such trip would not be recommended due to my health condition. I’m hoping that my ashes can be scattered on top of Yushan after I die,” said the 90-year-old in Yilan. “Being buried on Yushan would mean that I would be with Taiwan forever.”
Lee, who retired from politics after 2000, began a series of nationwide tours in April last year, taking available time to visit every city and county — something he was unable to do before — when his health allowed.
Photo: CNA
The tours, which included visits to old friends, local business owners, hospitals, farms, industrial parks, as well as a trip to outlying Green Island, have been described as Lee’s “last glimpse” of the country he dearly cared for and loved.
Keelung and New Taipei City (新北市) were the only administrative zones Lee has not visited after a three-day trip to Hualien County and Yilan that began on Wednesday.
The former president offered his observation of domestic politics, saying the latest incident regarding food safety was further evidence of the incompetence of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
He was also critical of Ma’s personnel decisions, in particular his appointment of Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) and Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達).
“Appointing my lawyer as the justice minister is not something I would have done,” he said.
Lo was known for her close relationship with Ma. When Ma was accused in 2007 of misusing his special allowance funds during his two terms as mayor of Taipei, Lo represented Yu Wen (余文), then a Taipei City Government staffer who handled reimbursements for the allowance, in defending Ma’s reputation.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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