Taiwanese businessman Pai Tsan- jung (白璨榮) is donating another 60 refurbished disaster relief vehicles to Ukraine, he announced yesterday at a donation ceremony in Changhua County.
The vehicles include fire trucks, ambulances, rehab buses and pickup trucks that were provided with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the National Fire Agency (NFA), local fire departments and Taiwan Power Co.
Pai, the chairman of Sun Jen Textile Co, previously donated 140 service trucks in three shipments over the past two years, making this his fourth batch of donations.
Photo: CNA
Describing his efforts as something “he was supposed to do,” Pai said he put up most of the funds to overhaul the vehicles and plans to pay to transport them to Europe.
The businessman thanked his employees for making more than 100,000 phone calls over the past two years to bring together everyone involved in the donation project.
Among those attending the ceremony were MOFA’s head of European affairs, Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), NFA Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) and Taiwan Association of Community Advancement head Chang Tsai-kai (張再凱).
Huang said the donation was initiated by the private sector and supported by cooperation from the central and local governments, showing that “Taiwan can help” is not merely a slogan, but the consensus of Taiwan’s people.
About 20 Ukrainians living in Taiwan also attended the ceremony. They mourned Wu Chung-ta (吳忠達), a Taiwanese soldier who fought as a volunteer soldier in Ukraine and recently died on the front lines.
They presented a certificate of gratitude to Taiwan on behalf of Ukrainian non-government organizations.
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