Ma hugged the mother of Chiang Kuo-ching, who was 21 years old when put to death by a firing squad in 1997, and also bowed to a portrait of the soldier, TV footage live from the family's home near Taipei showed.

"I know you and your family have been suffering for this for more than 10 years," Ma, whose first language is Mandarin, said in heavily accented Taiwanese.

"The government has acted wrongly in this case. As the head of state, I'm obliged to apologise to you on behalf of the government."

Chiang, an air force serviceman, was convicted by a military court in 1996 of raping and murdering the girl at an air force base in Taipei.

His father, who died last year, believed he had been wrongly convicted and repeatedly appealed to the top ombudsman body supervising government employees, the Control Yuan, and to the judicial authorities.

In a letter home, Chiang had insisted he was innocent and was coerced by a group of air force intelligence officers into confessing.

The Control Yuan impeached the military court last year, saying the evidence against Chiang, including fingerprints gathered at the crime scene, was insufficient.

In response, the prosecution authorities last year ordered the formation of a special group to look into the case.

The prosecutors last week ordered the arrest of a man who has twice been jailed for sexually abusing little girls since 1997 and served in the air force in 1996.

earlier related report
Taiwan charity mission accomplished: China tycoon
Taipei (AFP) Feb 1, 2011 - China's best known philanthropist said Tuesday he has fulfilled his promise of donating about $16 million during a much-publicised tour of Taiwan, a report said.

"I've delivered the money as promised," Chen Guangbiao was quoted by the state Central News Agency as saying before wrapping up a week-long visit to the island.

Chen said he made donations worth Tw$83 million ($2.77 million) in public while the rest was pledged to a number of charity groups who requested confidentiality, the report said.

Chen, 42, who made his fortune recycling construction materials, also vowed to keep a low profile when he comes back to Taiwan next time in May, it said.

Reactions were mixed for Chen, with some low-income residents welcoming him and even chasing him around, while others saw his trip as propaganda to make the prospect of reunification with China more palatable to Taiwanese.

The visit came at a time of easing tensions between China and Taiwan, although Beijing still claims the island as its territory, despite a separation that has lasted for over 60 years since the end of a civil war.

Taiwan is five times wealthier than China in terms of gross domestic product per capita, even though the mainland's economy is more than 10 times larger than its neighbour's.

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