Deputy Chief of Research and Development at the Department of Defense. Taiwan According to the official Central News Agency, this morning he was found dead in a hotel room after suffering a heart attack.

Ou Yang Li-hsing, deputy head of the military-owned Zhongshan National Institute of Science and Technology, found himself in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to CNA.

Authorities said the 57-year-old died of a heart attack and that the hotel room showed no signs of forced entry, CNA reported. According to the agency, the official was on a business trip in the southern county of Pingtung.

Earlier this year, Ou Yang was appointed deputy director of the institute and oversaw a number of missile programs.

The Taiwanese government is trying to increase missile production in the face of the threat of an invasion by Beijing, which considers the island Chinese territory.

China has been conducting intense military exercises around Taiwan since Thursday in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island earlier this week.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters, AFP.}