The memorial service for independence advocate and former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) has been extended to Wednesday, Taiwan New Constitution Foundation executive director Lin Yi-cheng (林宜正) said on Friday.
The change was to accommodate the number of people who want to attend, Lin said, adding that interest was much higher than expected.
A separate public memorial would be arranged next month, he said.
Photo: CNA
Koo, who passed away on Monday at the age of 96, was a businessman best known for his life-long advocacy of Taiwanese independence.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) — who was alternatively a political ally and opponent of Koo — visited the memorial site at the foundation in Taipei, Lin said.
Lin said Soong told the group in attendance that during the martial law period, Koo advised then-vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) that a change should be made to how people are officially classified, switching from province of ancestral origin to place of birth, which would help boost national solidarity.
The recommendation was adopted by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the policy has remained in place since, as can be seen on Taiwanese ID cards, he said, quoting Soong.
The story shows how dedicated Koo was to fostering unity across ideological and political divides in Taiwan, he said.
Lin also recounted his own anecdote about Koo.
Koo worked to maintain the nation’s unofficial ties with Tokyo and once told Shinzo Abe before he became Japanese prime minister that Japan would lose its global leadership and be forced to remilitarize if Taiwan became part of China, Lin said.
Abe told Koo that he was in complete agreement, Lin said.
Abe became a firm supporter of Taiwan as prime minister and once declared that “a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency,” Lin said.
Koo was an advocate for stronger relations with the US, and bringing the world’s attention to Taiwan, Lin said.
“The best way to remember Koo is to continue his mission,” he added.
Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who visited the memorial site on Monday, signed the guestbook, writing: “History will record your lifetime of labor.”
Ker said that Koo had never given up on Taiwanese independence and the creation of a new constitution, which he deemed his life’s calling.
Koo was a supporter and mentor to many younger activists and his ideals will live on, Ker added.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing
RSS