China sent more warplanes toward Taiwan for the second day on Saturday as the island’s leader, senior Government officials and a high-level US envoy paid tribute to the man who led Taiwan’s transition to democracy, former President Lee Teng-hui.
Keith Krach, the US undersecretary for state, kept a low profile at the service.
His presence at the event and on the island has drawn a strong rebuke from China, which sent 18 warplanes across the midline of the Taiwan Strait Friday in an unusually large display of force.
On Saturday, Beijing dispatched 19 more warplanes, two of which were bombers, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. The island’s air force scrambled their own and deployed an air defense missile system to monitor China’s activities, according to a statement.
The service was held at the Aletheia University in Taipei on a balmy Saturday morning, with President Tsai Ing-wen honouring Lee for bringing a peaceful political transition to the island democracy.
Lee had built a separate Taiwanese political identity, distinct from mainland China, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory to be reunited by force if necessary.
Lee’s carving out of a non-Chinese identity and insistence that the island be treated as an equal country brought him into direct conflict with Beijing. He died on July 30 at age 97.
“We have a responsibility to continue his endeavours, allowing the will of the people to reshape Taiwan, further defining Taiwan’s identity and deepening and bolstering democracy and freedom,” Tsai said.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Dalai Lama also paid tribute from afar.
“We Buddhists believe in life after life, so most probably he will be reborn in Taiwan,” the Dalai Lama said in a video message.
“His rebirth will carry his spirit continuously.” The guests included another former Japanese prime minister, Yoshiro Mori. They wore masks and sat spaced out in pews.
Lee, an agricultural economist and politician, devoted his career toward building democracy on the island through direct elections and other changes.
He was the first government official to speak out and formally apologise for the so-called 228 incident, named after February 28, 1947, when soldiers under the Kuomingtang, or the sole ruling Nationalist Party, shot and killed thousands of civilians in an anti-government uprising.
The bloodshed marked the beginning of a decades-long period known as the White Terror in which the island was ruled by martial law.