Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou was besieged by hundreds of mourners on Sunday while attending the funeral of Hung Chung-chiu, a young soldier who died after allegedly being abused by his officers.

Ma, protected by security guards, struggled to make his way to the funeral site at the soldier's home in the central city of Taichung, with thousands of protesters shouting "We want the truth" to express their anger over Hung's death, news portal udn.com reported.

Ma bowed to Hung's family and pledged that no such tragedy would happen again in the military as he offered his condolences to them. "I hereby guarantee that Hung Chung-chiu will not have died in vain," Ma said in an AFP report.

"The case has been handled under judicial procedure, and we will keep on digging for the truth," said Ma.

Hung, 24, died of heatstroke a month ago after being forced to exercise excessively as punishment for taking a smartphone onto his base, just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service.

More than 200,000 people dressed in white Saturday gathered in Taipei, protesting against the treatment of Hung, an organizer of the rallies said, according to Phoenix TV.

Jiang Yi-huah, chief of the island's executive body, Saturday promised to meet the activist group's demands to set up a committee to probe military wrongful imprisonment cases and to review the military tribunal system.

Amid mounting public anger, the island's defense chief Kao Hua-chu stepped down last week, while 18 officers have been charged over Hung's death, including the former commander of his brigade.

"Ma Ying-jeou's approval rate has been falling due to the sluggish economy and unfruitful reforms," said Yang Lixian, a deputy secretary-general of the Beijing-based National Society of Taiwan Studies.

"Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party is trying to take advantage of this case and it will affect next year's local election in Taiwan," said Yang.

AFP contributed to this story