Taiwanese defence official found dead in hotel room

Amid tension, the deputy chief of Taiwan’s defence ministry’s research and development branch was found dead in a hotel room on Saturday morning, according to the official Central News Agency. The cause of his death his still undetermined. Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy chairman of the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, which is owned by the military, was discovered dead in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to CNA, police and other authorities were investigating into the death’s cause. Ou Yang had assumed his post as the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology early this year to supervise various missile production projects and was on a business trip. The military-owned body is working to more than double its yearly missile production capacity to close to 500 this year, as the island boosts its combat power amid what it sees as China’s growing military threat.

His death comes amidst tension between China and Taiwan following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Nancy Pelosi travelled to Taiwan on Tuesday, despite repeated security warnings from China. Beijing insisted that her visit violates both the terms of the joint communiqué between China and the US and the one-China principle. It said that the visit greatly jeopardises the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and sends the ‘separatist forces for Taiwan independence’ the wrong message.