Taipei Times
Date: Jan 12, 2016
By: Lee Jung-ping and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday
visited former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Touliao (頭寮) to mark the 28th anniversary of Chiang’s death tomorrow.
A teary-eyed Soong — who served as a personal secretary to Chiang from 1978 to 1981 — said he visited the mausoleum to “rediscover Chiang Ching-kuo’s stance, which is that the greatest thing in the world is the people.”
Soong added that he also wanted to recover the “ideals of the [Chinese Nationalist] Party [KMT] as [KMT founder] Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) conceived it.”
When asked to comment on KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) plan to visit the mausoleum in the next few days, Soong said: “It does not matter how often one worships at the temple if there is no Buddha in his heart,” adding that politicians must be mindful of the public.
“This is why after eight years of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, the KMT is held in contempt by the public,” he added. [FULL STORY]