Taipei - A fire has damaged a historic building that had housed Taiwan's late leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May-ling, just two years after a suburban residence of the late Chiang burned down, officials said Tuesday. "The fire took place Monday night at around 10:36 pm (1436 GMT), and initial findings showed the blaze was caused by short circuit of an electric device temporarily installed at the west corridor of the residence building," said Wang Yu-chi, spokesman for the Presidential Office.
He said part of the residence, including the master bedroom and some 10 pieces of furniture and exhibited items, were destroyed.
It was the second fire to have damaged the living quarters of the late Chiang since a mysterious blaze burnt down a suburban residence of the late leader in Taipei in July 2007.
The residence damaged by the fire Monday night had been turned into a national historic relic by the government in 2005.
Chiang, who set up an interim government in Taiwan after being defeated by the Communists at the end of a civil war in 1949, had used the residence as a major decision-making centre before he died in 1975.
