Three soldiers sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a vehicle incident on Saturday in Kaohsiung while participating in the Han Kuang military exercises, the military said yesterday.
The incident occurred when a light reconnaissance tactical vehicle assigned to the Eighth Army Corps struck a roadside curb on Qinan Road in Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山), the Eighth Army Corps Command said in a statement.
The corps is responsible for defending southern Taiwan.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
All three servicemen in the vehicle were immediately taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.
Doctors found they had sustained fractures, scrapes and contusions, the command added.
All three soldiers were conscious and passed field sobriety tests given by police, it said.
The command said it has dispatched senior officers to cooperate with the police investigation and would improve training on military vehicle driving safety.
Saturday’s incident marks the third military vehicle-related incident since the live-fire phase of the Han Kuang exercises began on Wednesday last week.
On Thursday, an M109A2 artillery vehicle crashed into four parked cars in Taoyuan’s Xinwu District (新屋), damaging the vehicles and part of a nearby house.
On Friday, a mobile Patriot missile platform nearly ran into a civilian house in New Taipei City’s Xindian District (新店) after attempting a U-turn. The vehicle was stuck on the roadside for two hours before being towed away.
No injuries were reported in the two incidents.
The longest-ever live-fire component of the military exercises is taking place, with a focus on how the country would counter China’s “gray zone” tactics.
According to the Ministry of National Defense, the 10-day, nine-night live-fire drills running through Friday are twice as long as previous live-fire segments, which typically last five days and four nights.
The ministry has warned that due to the “unscripted” nature and extended duration of this year’s Han Kuang exercises, some inconvenience and disruption to local traffic might occur.
It has called on the public to support the armed forces, emphasizing that realistic training is essential to enhancing combat readiness.
Ministry spokesperson Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday said that Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) was very concerned about injuries sustained by military personnel, and that the military does not wish for any soldier to be harmed.
However, military training inherently involves a high level of risk, with anticipated and unforeseen injuries occurring during the process, he added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS