Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport should be renamed “Lee Teng-hui Airport,” Taiwan-Japan cultural exchange organizations said yesterday in a joint statement.
The All Japan Taiwanese Union, Tokyo-based national policy adviser Alice King (金美齡), political commentator Yoshiko Sakurai, writer Ryusho Kadota and historian Hideo Tanaka, among others, said the airport should be renamed to recognize the contributions made by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who passed away on Thursday.
Japan-based Taiwan independence activist Lin Chien-liang (林建良), who initiated the statement, said the idea of renaming either the Taoyuan airport or Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) in honor of Lee has been raised by several Japanese friends who contacted him after Lee passed away.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Naming international airports after political figures who have made significant contributions and achievements during their tenure is a common practice, the statement said, citing as examples New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
Lee’s contributions to democracy had an impact on the entire region, and renaming the airport would be a way to recognize those efforts and share Lee’s memory with the world, it said.
The statement included comments by All Japan Taiwanese Union president Chao Chung-cheng (趙中正) and Taiwanese Association in Japan president Wang Shao-ying (王紹英).
It was signed by Lin, as well as head of the Japanese chapter of the World United Formosans for Independence, Wang Ming-li (王明理).
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