The combined logistics command yesterday acknowledged that the military has started exporting conventional weapons but it remained tight-lipped about who the weapons have been sold to.
Lieutenant General Shih Jui (
Although the topic had been a subject of media speculation, the press conference was the first time that a military leader admitted in public that the military has been selling weapons to foreign countries
Shih made the confirmation yesterday at a meeting of the Legislature's Defense Committee, where he briefed lawmakers with the committee on the development of the combined logistics command.
He was responding to inquiries from KMT lawmaker Lin Nan-sheng (
Shih was reluctant to go into details.
Lin, not satisfied with the answer, said according to his sources, the weaponry exports are worth around NT$70 million annually. Shih neither confirmed nor denied the figure.
The weapons the combined logistics command has produced for export are mainly rifles, an official with the command said.
The combined logistics command is responsible for the development and manufacture of conventional weapons ranging from handguns, rifles, mortars, rockets, towed guns and munitions of various kinds.
The command has previous weapons-export experience. The command had sold quite a number of rifles to certain countries in the Middle East years ago. However, the rifles did not reach the countries through legal channels.
In recent years, the command has found new clients in Africa though the buyers do not have strong purchasing power, sources said. It is unknown whether the military is still using unorthodox means to ship exported weapons out of the country.
Military armament bureau director Lieutenant General Tony Sun (
"Our weaponry exports are still small in volume. The country's diplomatic isolation is one of the main reasons for the slow growth in this trade," Sun said.
Another reason that Sun failed to mention is that most of the weapons produced by the combined logistics command are actually copies of weapons from countries such as the US, Israel and South Africa. This means that if the military wants to export weapons copied from other countries, it must ask for permission from the original manufacturing countries.
But what's worse is that quite a few weapons of these kinds were not legally copied from abroad.
They are equivalent to pirated products which would cause a controversy if sold in the international weaponry market.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS