Minister of National Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) yesterday delivered his Lunar New Year good wishes to military officers and reporters and released a promotional video titled Safeguarding the Homeland (守護家園).
In his first post-holiday engagement, Kao thanked the public for their support and reiterated that the men and women of the military are ready to serve and defend the nation.
Kao then launched the first of a three-part video series produced by the Ministry of National Defense and directed by filmmaker Hung Cheng-chang (洪成昌).
At just over two minutes in length, Safeguarding the Homeland features soldiers, pilots, sailors, maintenance crews, special operations units and other branches of the armed forces during training, on patrol and conducting combat maneuvers.
It also showcases navy warships, fighter jets, attack helicopters, tanks, armored personnel carriers and amphibious assault vehicles, as well as new advanced weaponry.
Hung said it was all shot on location as his film crew followed military units during field operations and patrols.
“I wanted to depict the realism and the human side of our armed forces through their daily tasks,” Hung said.
Hung said he had planned a military career after graduating from the military’s political warfare academy, Fu Hsing Kang College, but later changed course to get into film production.
“Because of my past service, I wanted to make an authentic video about our nation’s military,” he said. “I intend to fill people with emotion and encourage them to take pride in our armed forces.”
Ministry spokesperson Major General David Lo (羅紹和), who helped with the film’s production and coordination efforts, said shooting began in November last year followed by about two months of post-production work.
The video’s soundtrack was done by Hsiung Tsu-sheng (熊祖聖), Lo said.
Lo said that it was grueling work and the film crew had a limited budget of NT$960,000 (US$30,500) and a short time-frame to complete the project, as they traveled to frontline posts in Kinmen and other offshore islands, air force and naval bases, and army training facilities around the nation.
Lo said the video has already received positive endorsements from viewers, Lo said.
“It was about time the defense ministry came up with a professionally produced video,” a commentator surnamed Chiu wrote.
“After watching it, I feel proud of our soldiers. It is a good advertisement for the armed forces,” a netizen surnamed Yang said.
The video is available on YouTube (youtu.be/PycUw2oflaY).
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS