Kaohsiung: Akie Abe, widow of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, expressed her gratitude to the people of Taiwan for commemorating her husband. During a visit to a temple in Kaohsiung, where a statue of Shinzo Abe was erected in 2020, Akie Abe remarked on the enduring memory of her husband among the Taiwanese.

According to Focus Taiwan, Akie Abe, accompanied by about ten individuals, laid a wreath at the statue of her late husband. She expressed her appreciation for the welcoming reception she received and the rituals performed in his honor. Akie Abe reflected on her husband's unfulfilled wish to visit Taiwan, a desire he had hoped to realize after his retirement.

Shinzo Abe, who served as Japan's longest-serving prime minister, was assassinated in July 2022. His tenure included two separate periods, from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020. Although he planned to visit Taiwan after leaving office in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the trip, as Akie Abe noted during a previous visit to the statue in July 2023.

Akie Abe conveyed that, despite her husband's passing, his spirit remains connected to Taiwan. She pledged to continue promoting the statue after returning to Japan. Earlier Saturday, she also attended the Tainan International Mango Festival, invited by Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che.

According to President Lai Ching-te, who posted on the social media platform X, Akie Abe presented him with a copy of her late husband's memoir during a dinner in Tainan.