A multi-agency humanitarian rescue drill was held yesterday in waters near Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea, the first of its kind since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) spoke of the government’s intention to turn the island into a base for humanitarian assistance.
Three aircraft and eight vessels took part in the exercise, code-named “Nanyuan No. 1,” or “Southern Aid,” the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said.
CGA Director-General Lee Chung-wei (李仲威) oversaw the drill, with reporters from several international wire services and Japanese media outlets invited to cover the proceedings, the agency said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The drill simulated a fire on the deck of a foreign cargo ship, with injured crewmembers abandoning ship near Itu Aba.
The National Search and Rescue Center dispatched Republic of China (ROC) Navy and CGA vessels to the scene, where they plucked the stand-ins from the sea and transported them to the island.
The “victims” were taken to the Itu Aba hospital where medical staff simulated treatment scenarios with assistance from colleagues in Taiwan proper via a video link.
The crewmembers were then transported to a hospital in Pingtung County on an ROC Air Force C-130.
Ships that participated in the drill included the Kaohsiung, a 3,000-tonne coast guard vessel, and the Panshi, a fast combat-support ship that can provide medical services on par with an army field hospital.
The drill took place following an interview last month in which Tsai spoke of government plans for Itu Aba.
Tsai told the Yomiuri Shimbun that Taiwan had begun to improve facilities on the island with the hope of building it into a base for humanitarian assistance and scientific research.
Other nations are welcome to cooperate with Taiwan in this endeavor, she said.
Since the CGA took over responsibility for the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) to the north from the Marine Corps in 2000, it has assisted 100 people in 70 emergencies in South China Sea waters, the CGA said.
Itu Aba is the largest of the naturally occurring islands in the Spratly chain.
The CGA said it would continue to step up rescue cooperations with peripheral countries to implement the policy of turning Itu Aba into a humanitarian rescue center, and supply and logistics base.
Six countries — Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brune — claim sovereignty over all or parts of the South China Sea.
Foreign reporters were invited to Itu Aba for the first time in March during the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to buttress Taiwan’s case that it is an “island” and not just a “rock” as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
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
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS