Taiwan will not share information gathered by its new early-warning surveillance radar system with the US after the system is completed by the end of the year, a defense official said yesterday.
Located at a military base at Leshan (樂山) in Hsinchu County, the long-range system will be a closed network and the military “will not offer” information collected by it to the US, said Lieutenant General Liu Shi-lay (劉溪烈), an official with the unit at the Ministry of National Defense responsible for communication, electronics and information.
Liu made the remarks in response to concerns raised by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) that the military would provide information collected by the radar system to the US.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
At a hearing of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Lu also expressed concern that the system, which Taiwan purchased from the US, would be more beneficial to Washington than to Taipei.
Lu said the information collected by the radar system will be more valuable for the US, in the event of missile attacks by China.
However, the ministry has said that the radar system is necessary to help strengthen Taiwan’s combat readiness in case of Chinese attack, given that China currently has about 1,600 missiles targeting Taiwan.
On the possibility that the US may be able to intercept data collected by the system, Liu said the US would be unable to access any information unless Taiwan shares it.
At the same session, Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) said Taiwan would purchase two Oliver Hazard Perry-Class frigates from the US in 2014, as part of its efforts to revive the navy’s aging fleet.
Kao said the decommissioned frigates would be purchased with key onboard equipment such as the SQR-19 Towed Array Sonar system, which allows long-range passive detection of enemy submarines.
“This is necessary,” Kao said responding to questions by KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) on the issue of buying the two frigates from the US for more than NT$7 billion (US$239.36 million).
Lin also asked about the progress of a project to replace the engine blades on Taiwan’s fleet of Mirage 2000-5 combat aircraft.
Kao said the project is progressing and will be completed by the end of next year.
When asked whether the problem with the engine blades was related to the Mirage fighter jet crash in France last month that killed a Taiwanese pilot, Kao said the cause of the accident is still under investigation. Kao added that he had asked the air force to obtain information on Mirage fighter crashes throughout the world over the past five years to help investigate the death of the pilot, Colonel Wang Tung-yi (王同義), who was killed when his plane crashed in France during a training mission.
Kao also confirmed that a Taiwanese shipbuilding company commissioned by the navy had begun building a prototype missile boat, but declined to discuss any further details of the project.
He was answering Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍)’s question on whether the prototype will be outfitted with locally developed anti-ship missiles the Hsiung Feng (Brave Wind) III and Hsiung Feng II, as reported by local media.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,