Taiwanese businessman Pai Tsan-jung (白璨榮) will donate 60 refurbished emergency vehicles to Ukraine, he announced at a donation ceremony in Changhua County yesterday.

The vehicles include fire trucks, ambulances, rehabilitation buses and vans which were provided with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), National Fire Agency (NFA), Fire Services local fire and Taiwan Power Co.

Pai, chairman of Sun Jen Textile Co, has already donated 140 service trucks in three shipments over the past two years, making this his fourth batch of donations.

Photo: ANC

Describing his efforts as something “he was supposed to do,” Pai said he spent most of the funds on overhauling the vehicles and planned to pay to transport them to Europe.

The businessman thanked his employees for making more than 100,000 phone calls over the past two years to bring together everyone involved in the donation project.

Attendees at the ceremony included Foreign Ministry European Affairs Chief Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), NFA Director General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章), and President of the Taiwan Development Association community, Chang Tsai-kai (張再凱).

Huang said the donation was initiated by the private sector and supported by the cooperation of the central and local governments, demonstrating that “Taiwan can help” is not just a slogan, but the consensus of the Taiwanese people.

Around 20 Ukrainians living in Taiwan also attended the ceremony. They mourned Wu Chung-ta (吳忠達), a Taiwanese soldier who fought as a volunteer soldier in Ukraine and recently died on the front lines.

They presented a certificate of gratitude to Taiwan on behalf of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations.