A delegation from the National Security Bureau (NSB) on Friday wrapped up an exchange training program in Guatemala, the first collaboration between the two countries’ special security forces.
At a ceremony held after the conclusion of the program, NSB Special Service Command Center deputy head Lee Ching-jan (李慶然), who led the Taiwanese delegation, was given the “Iximche” medal by the Guatemalan government for his efforts in pushing for the collaboration.
The Guatemalan government confers the medal upon foreign nationals who have contributed to cooperation between their home countries and the Central American nation.
Photo: Screen grab from the Facebook page of the Republic of China’s embassy in Guatemala
The NSB said that was the first time a delegation from the Special Service Command Center participated in a training exchange with their counterparts from Guatemala.
The ceremony was attended by several top Guatemalan officials, including Guatemalan Minister of National Defense Henry David Saenz Ramos, Secretary General of the Presidency of Guatemala Juan Gerardo Guerrero Garnica and Guatemalan Secretariat of Administrative and Security Affairs Ivan Carpio Alfaro.
The command center said the program was an opportunity for its officers and their Guatemalan counterparts to conduct joint exercises on security and counterterrorism operations, and enhance their intelligence assessment and operational skills.
The collaboration not only benefited the special security forces of Taiwan and Guatemala, but also contributed to the deepening of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the NSB said.
Guatemala is one of 12 states which maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The two nations established ties in 1933.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS