President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday pledged to add an additional 3,000 firefighters to the nation’s disaster response system by 2028 while meeting with recipients of last year’s Phoenix Awards, which honor outstanding firefighters.
“We need to upgrade facilities at the firefighters’ training center, improve the skills of firefighters, and ensure that they have sufficient and upgraded firefighting equipment and trucks. We succeeded in adding 3,000 firefighters to the nation’s disaster response system from 2019 to 2023. Last year, we expanded the program, which aims to add another 3,000 firefighters to the system by 2028. This is expected to bolster the nation’s firefighting capacity,” Lai told the award recipients.
Lai made the announcement ahead of Firefighters’ Day on Sunday.
Photo: screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page
Lai also thanked the Phoenix Award receipts for their work and sacrifices, which helped people in Taiwan survive disasters brought by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, typhoons and fires.
One of the recipients was Central Police University fire science department professor Wu Guan-yuan (吳貫遠), who has devoted himself to firefighting education and research, as well as related administrative positions for more than 30 years, Lai said.
Aside from promoting academic exchanges on fire science and technology, Wu in 2023 translated Kyoto University honorary professor Takeyoshi Tanaka’s Building Fire Safety Engineering, so that the nation’s firefighting skills could be improved and match that of the international community, Lai said.
“Elevating whole-of-society resilience in defense is our common mission... Whether it is about dealing with the expansion of authoritarian regimes or the impact brought by climate change, or challenges from handling compound natural disasters and fires, we must make society more resilient and capable of coping with the threats and challenges,” he said.
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck on Sept. 21, 1999, which killed 2,456 people.
Following the devastating earthquake, firefighters from around the world came to Taiwan and learned from the experience.
Taiwan now has the capabilities and experience to help other nations who experience a similar plight, Lai said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS