The nation participated as “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei” for the first time at this year’s World Police and Fire Games that began in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday.
The Taiwanese team of firefighters and police officers have been participating at the Games since 1985. The Games are held every two years.
For the first time, the Taiwanese team participated under the name “Taiwan” and carried a sign saying “Taiwan” and the national flag during the opening ceremony.
The team entered with traditional dancing dragons and lions and were accompanied by traditional Taiwanese musicians with gongs and drums, while overseas Taiwanese in the crowd watching the parade cheered.
The National Police Agency said in the past, the country could only participate at the Games using the same name as in the Olympic Games, “Chinese Taipei.” However, this year, the agency coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representative office in Vancouver and the Games organizers to allow the country’s firefighters and police officers to compete under the name “Taiwan.”
The team is composed of 49 firefighters and police officers from around the country, led by Hsieh Fen-fen (謝芬芬), a section chief at the agency.
This year, more than 10,000 police officers, firefighters, customs and correction officers from more than 60 countries are competing in sports that include hockey, archery, basketball, wrestling, sailing, golf and karate.
The Games were established in 1985 by the non-profit World Police and Fire Games Federation.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS