TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Abe Akie, the widow of assassinated Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, paid her respects at the grave of former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Wednesday (July 19).

Abe Shinzo said in a 2022 interview that he hoped to visit Lee’s grave in Taiwan, but he was assassinated later that year at a campaign event for a legislative candidate in Nara.

His widow traveled to Taiwan on Monday (July 17) and met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德). She also visited the site of a statue of her husband in Kaohsiung City.

On Wednesday morning, Abe Akie was welcomed at the Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery in New Taipei City by Lee's son-in-law, Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲), the Liberty Times reported. Lai presented Abe Akie with a wooden box containing letter paper, showing pictures of the two late politicians shaking hands.

She told reporters she was happy to fulfill her late husband’s wishes and had been able to feel how close relations were between Japan and Taiwan.