Annie Lee (李安妮), the daughter of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), would attend former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s state funeral at the invitation of Abe’s family, the Lee Teng-hui Foundation has said.
The funeral is to take place at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo tomorrow, Japanese public broadcaster NHK has reported.
Abe was assassinated on the campaign trail on July 8 in the Nara region.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Lee Teng-hui Foundation president Cheng Mu-chun (鄭睦群) last week confirmed Japanese media reports that Annie Lee had been invited to the ceremony and was planning to attend.
Annie Lee, along with Cheng and a foundation research assistant, are scheduled to arrive in Japan today to attend the funeral and a banquet hosted by Japan’s Friends of Lee Teng-hui organization, before returning home on Wednesday.
Lee Teng-hui, who grew up in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era, maintained deep connections with Japan’s culture and people during his time as president and after his retirement.
Photo: Chen Wen-tsan, Taipei Times
After Lee Teng-hui’s death in 2020, Abe said Japanese had “special feelings of closeness” for him as the builder of the “foundation of Japan-Taiwan relations.”
Taiwan would be officially represented at the funeral by former legislative speakers Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the Presidential Office announced earlier this month.
In related news, a bronze statue commemorating Abe was on Saturday unveiled at Hongmaogang’s (紅毛港) Baoan Temple (保安堂) in Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District (鳳山) in a ceremony attended by dignitaries including Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊).
The statue, which stands on a pedestal engraved with the phrase “Always a friend to Taiwan,” was commissioned by the temple in memory of Abe.
In her speech, Chen described the contributions made by the former Japanese prime minister, who spared no effort to raise awareness about Taiwan internationally, its strategic importance to the world, and the need to protect the Taiwanese pursuit of freedom, democracy, dignity and sovereignty.
The statue was created by Taiwanese sculptors Chou Jui-ming (周瑞明) and Yeh Chin-cheng (葉金城), and delivered to the temple on Sept. 16, the temple said.
The temple said it has close ties to Japan, as it is home to a deity that was worshiped by a World War II Japanese naval officer.
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