Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國) was yesterday found dead outside his apartment in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), apparently having jumped to his death after posting the message “I would rather die than live in this unjust Taiwan” in a KMT group Line chat.
Taipei police and fire officials said they received a report at about 7am that the body of a man, later declared dead at the scene, had been found on Neihu Road.
The man was identified as the 68-year-old Pang, who was known to have been diagnosed with cancer, police said.
The case has been passed to prosecutors to investigate the circumstances leading to his death, police added.
Pang, a former deputy secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation, had taught at Chinese Culture University in Taipei since August 2005.
He was a member of the New Party, the People First Party and then the KMT from 2006. His wife is Chiu Hsiu-chen (邱秀珍), a former TV news anchor.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) expressed condolences at the death of Pang on Facebook, calling for party unity in the face of tough challenges ahead.
KMT headquarters issued a statement expressing its deep sorrow and condolences over Pang’s passing, while also noting his “unjust Taiwan” post earlier in the day.
Former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said that Pang had expressed disappointment with the current state of society and the KMT in their recent telephone conversations.
This could be why he gave up fighting, Hau said.
Pang was hired by Hau after the latter was elected Taipei mayor in 2006, and served as deputy chief convener of the city administration advisory team.
The KMT has suffered a string of defeats, including the latest double loss in a Taichung legislative by-election and the recall vote against independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) in Taipei on Sunday.
Last month, the 103-year-old party saw all four of the referendum proposals it backed — including two initiated by the party — fail at the polls.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS