The US has dropped plans to allow eight of the 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft the nation plans to buy from the US be assembled in Taiwan, local media reported yesterday.
The Chinese language United Daily News, quoting an unnamed military source, said the US, taking advantage of the scrapping of Taiwan Goal -- an arms firm that would have been in charge of the P-3C deal -- had withdrawn its promise to let eight of the 12 aircraft be assembled in Taiwan.
The source said that under an industrial cooperation agreement signed in December, the US agreed that four of the 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US, while the remaining eight and a flight simulator, would be manufactured in Taiwan.
Other industrial cooperation items included the construction of a P-3C maintenance center in Taiwan and transferring maintenance technology.
But after Taiwan announced the decision to disband the arms firm, the US said that all 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US and that only maintenance technology would be transferred.
The government secretly set up Taiwan Goal in January to conduct arms purchases with foreign countries, but decided to scrap it after the opposition accused members of the Democratic Progressive Party of seeking to make personal gains from the firm.
It was not clear if the government would accept the US change to the industrial cooperation agreement, which leaves the nation short-changed because the US is not lowering the price of the P-3Cs.
The nation is seeking to buy 12 P-3Cs from Lockheed Martin as part of an arms deal approved by US President George W. Bush in 2004. The deal also includes the sale of eight conventional submarines and six batteries of the PAC-3 anti-missile defense system.
In related news, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday appeared unconcerned that a French company was preparing to sell crucial missile and radar technology to Pakistan, a move that could compromise the nation's defense capabilities.
The Associated Press reported last week that the French state arms export agency was preparing to sell MICA air-to-air missiles and Thales RC400 radars to Pakistan for use on its JF-17 fighter jets, a plane being jointly developed with China.
In a letter to the Taipei Times printed today, a defense correspondent with Jane's Information Group, Reuben Johnson, alleges that the technology could fall into Chinese hands and render Taiwan's Mirage 2000 aircraft useless.
Ministry spokeswoman Chih Yu-lan (池玉蘭) told the Taipei Times that France signed a confidential contract with Taiwan when it sold Mirage fighters to the country in 1992.
She said that Taiwan's Mirage 2000 fighters would retain their effectiveness because while France might help other countries develop military technology, the confidential technology used in the Mirage 2000 systems would be not be leaked under the contract.
Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief for Defense News magazine, said the news was just "another example of China gaining access to technology through the backdoor."
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and staff writer
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS