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.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
RSS