Taiwan Gen. Chiang to Have Belated Burial (The end of Unification Hopes?), page 1

General Chiang Kai-shek's body has been lying in state in a mauseleum awaiting the day that it can be returned and buried in mainland China

story.news.yahoo.com
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Nearly 30 years after his death, relatives of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek wanted a belated burial for the late Taiwanese leader, officials said on Thursday.

Chiang's body will be taken out of a mausoleum and buried in an army cemetery in the capital, Taipei.

Chiang and his Nationalist government fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war in China to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949. He built Taiwan into an anti-communist bastion and vowed to recapture the mainland.

After he died in 1975, authorities placed his body in a mausoleum outside of Taipei, which was proclaimed as his "temporary resting place." The government said the corpse would be moved to his birthplace, Fenghua in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, following the recovery of the mainland.

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This may the begining of a more firm push from within Taiwan to declare independance. Gen. Chiang had vowed to retake the mainland and drive the communist out. However, as the article points out the people of Taiwan seem to think that this is no longer possible. Independance may thier new hope and the idea of reunification may be fading from their collective thoughts. The burial in Taiwan may the opening salvo...

[edit on 9-7-2004 by FredT]

[edit on 9-7-2004 by FredT]

[edit on 9-7-2004 by John bull 1]