The Republic of China Army’s elite “Frogmen” unit on Kinmen Island (金門) demonstrated they are capable of undertaking dangerous missions and repelling enemy attacks, as the nation’s armed forces prepared defensive deployments for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
In yesterday’s drills for inspection by Ministry of National Defense (MND) officials, the Army 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB 101) “Frogmen” unit strutted their stuff to display their martial arts and other close-combat skills, weapons training, explosives demolition and stealth amphibious landing skills.
The elite soldiers braved high waves in the cold coastal waters of Kinmen Island during their simulation of storming a beach via rubber boats and attacking shoreline fortifications.
Photo: WALLY SANTANA, AP
MND spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said the inspection was for officials to ensure the armed forces are vigilant over the security of the nation during the Lunar New Year holidays.
ARB 101 units are deployed along the front-line islands, with their main base at Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣) in Kinmen’s southeast, and other companies stationed at Matsu’s (馬祖) Nangan (南竿) and Dongying (東引) islets, as well as on Penghu’s Siyu Islet (西嶼).
At the ARB 101 base, the specially trained soldiers displayed their frogman suits for diving, breathing apparatus and other equipment, along with field camouflage and weapons such as T91 rifles and M107 scoped sniper rifles.
Lee Han-sheng (李瀚生), a seargent who heads a sniper company at the ARB 101 base, said he would patrol Kinmen and the nearby islets for the defense of the nation’s front line, which is close to China’s Xiamen City and Fujian Province coastline, to protect Taiwanese during the Lunar New Year holiday period.
A university graduate who enlisted as a professional soldier, Lee said training for amphibious combat was difficult, especially enduring the cold ocean temperatures during winter.
“Although we had frogman suits on, our extremities became numb after a while in the cold water,” Lee said.
“At times it was quite painful, as if our hands were being pricked by many needles. However, with more training, we got used to the conditions and our bodies toughened up,” he said.
“I chose the military” because it is an honor to serve my country, and I feel proud to protect my homeland and the citizens of our nation,” Lee said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS