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
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS