The US has dropped plans to allow eight of the 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft the nation plans to buy from the US be assembled in Taiwan, local media reported yesterday.
The Chinese language United Daily News, quoting an unnamed military source, said the US, taking advantage of the scrapping of Taiwan Goal -- an arms firm that would have been in charge of the P-3C deal -- had withdrawn its promise to let eight of the 12 aircraft be assembled in Taiwan.
The source said that under an industrial cooperation agreement signed in December, the US agreed that four of the 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US, while the remaining eight and a flight simulator, would be manufactured in Taiwan.
Other industrial cooperation items included the construction of a P-3C maintenance center in Taiwan and transferring maintenance technology.
But after Taiwan announced the decision to disband the arms firm, the US said that all 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US and that only maintenance technology would be transferred.
The government secretly set up Taiwan Goal in January to conduct arms purchases with foreign countries, but decided to scrap it after the opposition accused members of the Democratic Progressive Party of seeking to make personal gains from the firm.
It was not clear if the government would accept the US change to the industrial cooperation agreement, which leaves the nation short-changed because the US is not lowering the price of the P-3Cs.
The nation is seeking to buy 12 P-3Cs from Lockheed Martin as part of an arms deal approved by US President George W. Bush in 2004. The deal also includes the sale of eight conventional submarines and six batteries of the PAC-3 anti-missile defense system.
In related news, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday appeared unconcerned that a French company was preparing to sell crucial missile and radar technology to Pakistan, a move that could compromise the nation's defense capabilities.
The Associated Press reported last week that the French state arms export agency was preparing to sell MICA air-to-air missiles and Thales RC400 radars to Pakistan for use on its JF-17 fighter jets, a plane being jointly developed with China.
In a letter to the Taipei Times printed today, a defense correspondent with Jane's Information Group, Reuben Johnson, alleges that the technology could fall into Chinese hands and render Taiwan's Mirage 2000 aircraft useless.
Ministry spokeswoman Chih Yu-lan (池玉蘭) told the Taipei Times that France signed a confidential contract with Taiwan when it sold Mirage fighters to the country in 1992.
She said that Taiwan's Mirage 2000 fighters would retain their effectiveness because while France might help other countries develop military technology, the confidential technology used in the Mirage 2000 systems would be not be leaked under the contract.
Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief for Defense News magazine, said the news was just "another example of China gaining access to technology through the backdoor."
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and staff writer
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said yesterday after US President Donald Trump criticized the nation’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the US, saying he aimed to restore US chip manufacturing. National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) did not name Trump in a Facebook post, but referred to President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments on Friday that Taiwan would be a reliable partner in the
RSS