The life of Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) chairman Robert Lai (賴義雄), who passed away on April 30 at age 78, was celebrated by his daughter Lai Hsin-min (賴欣民) and other guests at a wake on Friday.
Robert Lai was well-respected by the Taiwanese community in Washington and within political circles in Taiwan.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Wu Hsin-hsing (吳新興) sent letters to his family, who were at Maryland’s Brookside Gardens for the wake, to express their condolences and well-wishes.
Despite his many years living overseas, Robert Lai always showed great concern for Taiwan’s development and its democratization, Tsai said in her letter.
Robert Lai lent his expertise to the development of Taiwan’s national defense, and his assistance constituted an invaluable contribution to the nation, she added.
Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰), who attended the wake, also spoke about Robert Lai’s contributions to the nation.
After receiving his doctorate from Northwestern University, Robert Lai taught at the University of Wisconsin.
He then moved on to work for defense contractor TRW for 17 years.
While he was once politically persecuted for his involvement in Taiwan’s democracy movement, he later came to be celebrated for the same reason.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation