TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kaohsiung City unveiled a statue of late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo Saturday (Sept. 24), just days before his state funeral in Tokyo.
The memorial showed a standing Abe waving, with the phrase “Taiwan’s eternal friend” written in Chinese on the pedestal, and could be viewed at the Baoan Shinto shrine in the Fengshan District’s Hongmaogang area, CNA reported.
About 300 people gathered at the site to commemorate the late prime minister, who was assassinated July 8 while addressing an election rally in the city of Nara. Among the crowd in Kaohsiung was a former mayor, Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊).
After one minute of silence, a concert began, followed by the guests laying flowers at the foot of the statue. Chen told the audience that Abe’s major achievement had been to internationalize the Taiwan issue, and making Taiwan’s strategic role obvious to the world.
After Abe’s death, Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) traveled to Japan to express his condolences. During his trip, he visited the former prime minister’s family home and attended a private funeral.
Taiwan will be represented at next Tuesday’s (Sept. 27) state funeral by Taiwan-Japan Relations Association (TJRA) Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), former Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), and the country’s envoy in Tokyo Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
