Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
"Taiwan's air force does not maintain any secret or publicly known bases in foreign countries. But it does have a second-strike capability," Tang said at his first appearance at the legislature's Defense Committee following the March 18 presidential election. Tang was responding to inquiries from lawmakers over the reported plan to fly planes to a safe destination to avoid initial attacks and then use those aircraft to reinforce a second strike -- much like Iraq did during the 1992 Gulf War where it sent planes to neighboring Iran to avoid being destroyed by US-led allied forces.
Despite Tang's denial, sources speaking on customary anonymity told the Taipei Times that the government is in fact planning to make such a request to the Philippines as part of the terms for the continuing civil aviation talks between the two sides.
PHOTO: LIBERTY TIMES
"The Philippines is not the only choice for the air force in this matter. There are several other choices on the list. We don't know which country will be our final choice. But the groundwork will have been laid in advance of any eventuality," said the source.
Tang also made reference to the acquisition of new short- and medium-range surface-to-surface missiles which analysts expect will be brought into operation in the next few years, greatly enhancing the military's current arsenal.
DPP lawmaker Li Chih-hsiung (
Meanwhile, Tang shed some light on the military's plans to build its own surface-to-surface missiles.
"The cost for these missiles is very high. Each short-range missile costs around NT$20 million, while a medium-range one can run as high as NT$30 million. The operational cost for all the missiles will be billions of NT dollars," he said.
With the continuous modernization of the armed forces, Tang assured lawmakers that Taiwan still enjoys an advantage over China in its conventional warfare capability, although it is weaker in space and high-tech sectors.
Tang also conceded that there are some serious problems with the armed forces, especially in respect to the shortage of specialized personnel.
"The kinds of personnel which the armed forces are short of include non-commissioned officers [NCOs], officers at the level of captain, pilots, and company leaders in the army," Tang said.
"This personnel shortage is one of the most serious problems hampering the progress of the military's build-up. One of the major factors for the situation is the relatively low rate of pay," he said.
"The pay for an enlistee is obviously lower than that for a police officer or a public servant. If the salary for a serviceman is raised by 50 percent and the armed forces are still short of people, I will step down to take responsibility."
Lawmaker Wang Tien-ging (王天競) of the People First Party disagreed with Tang's assessment that salary was the main problem in the armed forces, saying that a serviceman's sense of honor and duty to his country should make up for the lack of pay.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS