US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley yesterday extended his condolences over the deaths of Chief of the General Staff General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) and seven other military officials who were killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday.
“On behalf of the men and women of the United States Military, I want to send our condolences to members of the Taiwan military on the tragic loss of General Shen and the seven other victims in a helicopter accident,” Milley, the highest-ranking officer in the US Army, said in a statement on Facebook. “General Shen will be remembered as an exceptional leader to his people, and a champion for Taiwan’s defense and regional security. We are grateful for the service he rendered so selflessly, and cherish our friendship and strong defense relations with Taiwan.”
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday flew the US national flag at half-mast at its compound in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
Photo courtesy of the American Institute in Taiwan
“AIT stands ready to assist our Taiwan counterparts in the aftermath of this tragedy,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
It posted an undated photograph on Facebook yesterday of AIT Director Brent Christensen and Shen making a toast.
A number of local politicians — including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥), People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) — yesterday visited a mourning hall set up at Tri-Service General Hospital in Neihu to pay tribute to the late military officials.
Former minister of national defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) also paid tribute at the mourning hall.
Kao was involved in the crash of a UH-1H aircraft during a military drill in October 1974. That crash killed 13 military officers and paralyzed then-army commander in chief Yu Hao-chang (于豪章), under whom Kao served as an aide.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run Web site Huanqiu.com on Thursday posted a commentary on the crash by a netizen titled Buyidao (補壹刀), or “one more thrust of the knife.”
“Once China decides to use force to liberate Taiwan, do you think these Black Hawk helicopters can shield Taiwan from the Chinese armed forces?” Buyidao wrote, asking how Taiwan would dare fight China with such poor military strength, even though it has spent a lot of money buying weapons from the US.
Comments from the Chinese Communist Party about Taiwanese affairs are not welcome, Taiwanese netizens wrote in response.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po and Chung Li-hua
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,