The Coast Guard Administration’s Special Task Unit marked its 10th anniversary yesterday with a martial arts demonstration at a training facility in Taoyuan.
Expounding on the unit members’ physical capabilities and stamina, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Su-ching (李甦清), head of the unit tasked with anti-terrorism and rescue assignments, said each member of the unit goes through tough training courses on a daily basis.
“Push-ups, for example. Every one of us needs to complete at least 100 push-ups within a minute every day,” he said.
All 52 members on the unit are career soldiers and are stationed at Taoyuan Airport, Taichung Airport, Kaohsiung Airport, Hualien Airport and Taitung Airport.
Lee said members must go through a three-month training course by the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit, and another two-month course by the Military Police’s Special Service Unit. Each unit member must also be a certified lifeguard, swimming coach and scuba diver, and have certificates demonstrating their underwater skills, Lee said.
Each unit member is also proficient in at least two different styles of martial arts.
“Some of them volunteered to join us because of the fatter paychecks, I must admit,” Lee said, noting that members enjoy an additional NT$29,500 on top of their regular monthly paychecks because of the additional risks involved in carrying out their assignments.
“But surviving in this unit takes a lot of guts, persistence and belief,” he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS