The Industrial Development Bureau and the state-owned China Shipbuilding Corp (CSC) yesterday said that Taiwan is able to build submarines with a transfer of key US technology, but the Ministry of National Defense said the US would not help Taiwan do so.
But several legislators yesterday strongly criticized the government for "having no strategy" to promote the nation's submarine-building capability.
"Korea, Pakistan, Greece and Spain all built their own submarines, so why can't a technologically-advanced Taiwan do it too?" People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
"Taiwan's defenses have relied too much on the US, and the government has failed to enhance its defense industry," PFP Legislator Nelson Ku (
But bureau officials were more upbeat.
"A cross-ministry task force has reached the conclusion that the CSC is almost able to build submarines without large-scale investment in its shipbuilding equipment," Industrial Development Bureau director Chen Chao-yi (陳昭義) told the legislature. "However, the US' provision of submarine blueprints and submarine weapons systems are two prerequisites."
Chen said the task force requested that the defense ministry negotiate with the US over the purchase of eight submarines, in which Taiwan would send personnel to observe the building of two submarines in the US, then build one-third of the third and fourth submarines, two-thirds of the fifth and sixth submarines, and the seventh and eighth vessels in their entirety.
Fan Kuang-nan (范光男), acting chairman of the CSC, said that the company was looking forward to building submarines for the navy.
"The company has assessed that it only has to spend NT$1 billion on equipment to build the submarines," he said.
However, Vice Minister of National Defense Huo Shou-yeh (霍守業) said the US does not support the idea of US-Taiwan co-operation in submarine-building.
"The US has told the ministry on several occasions that it won't help Taiwan build submarines, and the ministry thinks the US has no financial interest in doing so," he said.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS