Taiwan's chief of staff, Shen Yi Ming, died on the way to a troop visit in a helicopter accident. Seven other military personnel also died. Five passengers survived and were taken to hospitals, the Ministry of Defense said.
Air Force General Shen, 62, was responsible for defending the Republic of the Island against China. He was on the way to a routine troop visit to eastern Taiwan, it said. There were 13 people on board the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter.
The ministry spoke of an emergency landing and announced an investigation to clarify the cause. The disaster happened about half an hour after the start in a mountainous region near the capital, Taipei, it was said.
The fatal crash occurred just a few days before the Taiwanese presidential election. President Tsai Ing-wen canceled all campaign events for the next three days. As commander in chief, she wanted to work with her cabinet to investigate the accident, her office said.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of the People's Republic of China, although it has never been part of it. China repeatedly threatens to annex Taiwan with military force. The dispute over the status of the island nation dates back to the civil war in China, when Kuomintang's Chinese forces fled to Taiwan after their defeat against the Mao communists in 1949.
Taiwan was founded in 1949 as the "Republic of China". Both Chinese states were members of the United Nations until 1972, when Beijing implemented the one-China policy worldwide. In contrast to the People's Republic of China, Taiwan has been experiencing democratic development since 1987. Nevertheless, the vast majority of states, including Germany, are not moving away from the one-China policy.
