The ashes of five military servicemen who died during intelligence and surveillance missions during the Cold War were enshrined at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei yesterday with full military honors.
The three pilots and two paratroopers were part of the Air Force's crack 34th and 35th squadrons (informally known as the Black Cats and Black Bats respectively) that together flew more than 1,000 missions over Chinese territory between 1953 and 1974.
The ceremony was officiated by Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) and included dozens of family members and surviving squadron members, many of them are well into their eighties.
“I was extremely sad that after all our comrades sacrificed for this country, their ashes lay in a foreign land for so long. The government has finally brought them back and put them to rest. I now feel content and relieved,” 82 year-old Hu Tien-peng (胡天鵬), a former paratrooper, told reporters.
The reconnaissance Black Cat Squadron flew 220 missions in US- supplied U-2 spy planes between 1961 and 1974, gathering key intelligence over strategic sites in China.
A spy plane piloted by a member of the Black Cat squadron is believed to have been one of the first to gather evidence of China's nuclear weapons development program.
Ten members of the squadron lost their lives during the period and two more were captured by communist forces and only released in 1982.
Meanwhile, the Black Bat Squadron, operational between 1953 and 1972, worked with the CIA to drop agents and gather military intelligence in China.
In total, the squadron flew 838 missions over China during the period, losing 148 crew members and 15 aircraft. Paratroopers with the squadron also supported US forces during the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1972.
Some of the servicemen from the Black Bat Squadron remain unaccounted for and their remains are believed to still be in China.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS