The nation participated as “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei” for the first time at this year’s World Police and Fire Games that began in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday.
The Taiwanese team of firefighters and police officers have been participating at the Games since 1985. The Games are held every two years.
For the first time, the Taiwanese team participated under the name “Taiwan” and carried a sign saying “Taiwan” and the national flag during the opening ceremony.
The team entered with traditional dancing dragons and lions and were accompanied by traditional Taiwanese musicians with gongs and drums, while overseas Taiwanese in the crowd watching the parade cheered.
The National Police Agency said in the past, the country could only participate at the Games using the same name as in the Olympic Games, “Chinese Taipei.” However, this year, the agency coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representative office in Vancouver and the Games organizers to allow the country’s firefighters and police officers to compete under the name “Taiwan.”
The team is composed of 49 firefighters and police officers from around the country, led by Hsieh Fen-fen (謝芬芬), a section chief at the agency.
This year, more than 10,000 police officers, firefighters, customs and correction officers from more than 60 countries are competing in sports that include hockey, archery, basketball, wrestling, sailing, golf and karate.
The Games were established in 1985 by the non-profit World Police and Fire Games Federation.
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The