Taiwan has not requested assistance from the US to overhaul its two aging US-built GUPPY-class submarines and is to carry out the project on its own, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said on Sunday.
Lin, who led a delegation of Taiwanese legislators to Washington earlier this month, told a press conference that the navy is capable of replacing the hulls of the two vessels, so the government has no need to seek related US support.
The maintenance is considered necessary for national security and its costs would not be a problem, Lin said.
He said the work would allow the navy to learn more about the structure of submarine hulls, which will be useful if a planned project to build submarines domestically goes ahead.
At present, Taiwan has four submarines — the two 70-year-old GUPPY, or Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program, ships, which are used for training, and two Dutch-made subs that serve as the navy’s submarine battle force.
The navy has increased its budget for overhauling the GUPPY-class submarines from NT$450 million (US$14.9 million) to nearly NT$800 million, citing the difficulties involved.
During the discussions in Washington early this month, Taipei presented two proposals — either buying submarines from the US or building them on its own using technology provided by Washington — Lin said on Sept. 11 at a press conference.
Lin said that the indigenous submarine plan would involve replacing the hulls of the GUPPY-class submarines and upgrading their equipment.
In April 2001, then-US president George W. Bush decided to help Taiwan acquire eight diesel electric submarines, but there has been little progress since then, which has been attributed to the US no longer producing the conventionally powered vessels.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS