The deputy head of the Taiwan government-controlled weapons developer has died after suffering a heart attack on a trip to the south of the island.
Ou Yang Li-hsing, 57, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was found dead in a hotel room in southern Pingtung County on Saturday morning, the institute said in a statement.
When police arrived at the scene they determined he had suffered a heart attack, said Wang Chin-tsung, a precinct deputy director of the Pingtung County Police Department.
There were no signs of foul play, he added.
“After checking the surveillance video footage and surveying the hotel room, police found the windows to be closed and did not see any signs of a break-in or fighting, nor did we find any wounds on Ou Yang’s body,” Wang said.
Ou Yang’s family said he had a history of heart disease and had a cardiac stent.
Ou Yang, who oversaw the development of various types of missile, had taken up his role at the institute earlier this year.
His death comes at a time of heightened tension bewteen Taiwan and Mainland China which had always claimed sovereignty over the self governing Island despite never ruling it.
Taiwan and China have been ruled separately for over 70 years since the nationalist Forces of the Kuomintang led by Chaing Kai Shek lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party of China led by Mao Zedong.
The Nationalist Forces having lost the war fled to the Island of Taiwan and has played a significant role in its development from a barely rural area top one of the most urbanised parts of the World.
China has always threatened to take the Self ruled Island by force if necessary and the recent visit to Taiwan by US Congress Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has further ignited tension across the Taiwan Straits, the waters separating Taiwan from China.
