Two decommissioned Kidd-class US destroyers purchased by the government have departed for Taiwan and will arrive in December, a television station reported yesterday.
A 600-member Taiwanese crew set sail on Saturday with the warships, which were christened Keelung and Suao, from Port Charleston, South Carolina, CTI Cable Station reported.
A launch ceremony was held at the port on Saturday, and some US representatives and South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer attended the elaborate event. This type of event has been rare since Taiwan ended its formal diplomatic relations with the US in 1979.
"The destroyers will boost significantly our air defense and anti-submarine capabilities," Admiral Chen Pang-chih (
Chen made a special trip from Taipei to participate in the launch ceremony.
US Marine General John Allen, the US Department of Defense's principal director for Asia-Pacific Affairs, delivered a speech for the occasion. He said that although US President George W. Bush opposes Taiwan's independence and any unilateral moves by either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, the US is committed to make available defensive arms and defensive services to Taiwan to help it meet its self-defense needs.
The US agreed to sell the government four older Kidd-class destroyers in 2003.
The refurbished destroyers will fill gaps in the navy's fleet air defense and Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities.
The government purchased four of the 8,000-tonne guided-missile ships in 2001 for US$800 million. They were decommissioned by the US navy in 1998, and are expected to remain in service for another 20 years.
The destroyers will bolster the navy's ability to respond to any Chinese attempt to blockade the island or land an invasion force.
The vessels are equipped with Harpoon missiles, five-inch guns as well as anti-air warfare systems.
Under the provisions of its Taiwan Relations Act, the US pledged to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons systems. That law was passed shortly after Washington transferred diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Given their large displacement, upon their arrival in Taiwan the two decommissioned Kidd-class US destroyers will be docked temporarily at the Suao harbor's deep-water berth.
The two ships will later be relocated to the Tsoying Naval Base in Kaohsiung City after construction of a new deep water wharf at the base is completed.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we