Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has given a state award to Tseng Sheng-kuang (曾聖光), a Taiwanese volunteer soldier who died in November last year while fighting for Ukraine, in honor of his “selfless performance,” the Web site of the Ukrainian president’s office said.
Zelenskiy recognized Tseng — among many others — with the Order for Courage of the third class for “the personal courage shown in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” a list dated Friday on the Web site said.
Tseng, 25, an Amis from Hualien County, had joined the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
He died on the battlefield on Nov. 2 last year in Lyman, part of the contested Luhansk region, making him the first Taiwanese volunteer to die in the war.
Tseng had served in the Republic of China Army from 2017 to 2021.
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POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
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