Military officers who were killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday are to be posthumously given decorations for their service to the nation, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at a top-level military and national security meeting at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Tsai also issued “three assurances” to boost morale.
A UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, carrying military personnel to Dongaoling Base (東澳嶺) in Yilan County, went down in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) on Thursday with 13 people on board. Eight, including Chief of the General Staff General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), died in the crash.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The meeting started with one minute’s silence for the deceased officers — Shen, Political Warfare Bureau Deputy Director Major General Yu Chin-wen (于親文), Major General Hung Hung-chun (洪鴻鈞) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, Major Huang Sheng-hang (黃聖航) of the Office of the Chief of the General Staff, Chief Master Sergent Han Cheng-hung (韓正宏), pilot Lieutenant Colonel Yeh Chien-yi (葉建儀), copilot Captain Liu Chen-fu (劉鎮富) and crew chief Master Sergeant Hsu Hung-pin (許鴻彬).
Tsai then announced that Shen had been posthumously promoted from a three-star general to a four-star general, as well as awarded the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun with Grand Cordon.
As Han was top of the sergeant rankings he was awarded the Cloud and Banner Medal, the Ministry of National Defense said, while the other officers were each given a posthumous one-rank promotion.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
“Despite our sorrow, we cannot allow national security to lapse for even one day,” Tsai said.
The best way to honor Shen’s memory would be for military personnel to continue with their duties and safeguard the nation, she said, before issuing three assurances.
Under the leadership of acting Chief of the General Staff Liu Chih-pin (劉志斌) and Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發), military affairs are to continue as normal and morale must remain high, she said.
The military must be on heightened alert and to closely observe all military movements in and around the Taiwan Strait, to ensure that the armed forces can respond rapidly to any change in the situation, she said.
The military must conduct thorough equipment inspections and to ensure that all military equipment is combat-ready, she said, adding that there is no room for laxness.
Yen then gave a briefing on the crash and the reaction of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The public should remain assured of the safety of the Taiwan Strait and that the authorities were looking into the cause of the crash, sources said.
Tsai has instructed the government to provide as much assistance as possible to the families of the deceased, including funeral arrangements, and with compensation payments for families of the deceased and the survivors, sources said.
The president instructed the Taipei Guest House to make an area available for the public to pay their respects to the deceased officers, they said.
Ministry spokesman Shih Shun-wen (史順文) yesterday evening confirmed that the Taipei Guest House would be open from 9am to 9pm over the weekend for the public to pay tribute to the deceased officers.
Additional reporting by CNA
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA