The Coast Guard Administration’s Special Task Unit marked its 10th anniversary yesterday with a martial arts demonstration at a training facility in Taoyuan.
Expounding on the unit members’ physical capabilities and stamina, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Su-ching (李甦清), head of the unit tasked with anti-terrorism and rescue assignments, said each member of the unit goes through tough training courses on a daily basis.
“Push-ups, for example. Every one of us needs to complete at least 100 push-ups within a minute every day,” he said.
All 52 members on the unit are career soldiers and are stationed at Taoyuan Airport, Taichung Airport, Kaohsiung Airport, Hualien Airport and Taitung Airport.
Lee said members must go through a three-month training course by the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit, and another two-month course by the Military Police’s Special Service Unit. Each unit member must also be a certified lifeguard, swimming coach and scuba diver, and have certificates demonstrating their underwater skills, Lee said.
Each unit member is also proficient in at least two different styles of martial arts.
“Some of them volunteered to join us because of the fatter paychecks, I must admit,” Lee said, noting that members enjoy an additional NT$29,500 on top of their regular monthly paychecks because of the additional risks involved in carrying out their assignments.
“But surviving in this unit takes a lot of guts, persistence and belief,” he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
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President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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