Raytheon Co, the world’s largest missile maker, said Taiwan was close to signing a contract for three Patriot missile firing batteries and related equipment that the US agreed to sell to the country in January.
The order could be finalized as early as this year, after the legislature approves the accord, Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Patriot programs, said in an interview at the Farnborough Air Show near London.
The offer, which is in addition to the US$1.1 billion order Raytheon announced in December, has gone to Taiwan and the company is awaiting the client’s approval, he said. The batteries made by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon include radar and command-and-control equipment and are used to fire two different versions of Patriot anti-missile interceptors made both by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp. Lockheed makes the PAC-3 and Raytheon makes a version called the Guidance Enhanced Missile.
US President Barack Obama’s administration notified US Congress in January of its intention to sell Taiwan US$2.81 billion worth of Patriot anti-missile systems, including 114 PAC-3 missiles and the firing units made by Raytheon.
The US provides defensive armaments to Taiwan under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
In a report last week, the Ministry of National Defense said that China’s missile arsenal targeting Taiwan could reach 1,960 by the end of this year. Current estimates put the number of short-range DF-11 and DF-15 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan at between 1,300 and 1,500. The high number referred to in the ministry report likely includes DF-21 medium-range ballistic missiles as well as cruise missiles.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said in Washington on Tuesday that the “ambiguous message” he had received from the US was that if the US could not sell F-16C/D fighter aircraft to Taiwan for the moment, it would consider upgrading the capability of its older F-16A/Bs.
Lin, who is heading a delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers on a visit to the US capital, said Washington had yet to decide on Taiwan’s request to purchase either F-16C/D aircraft or diesel-electric submarines.
Lin said the Taiwanese government had never abandoned its desire to acquire diesel-electric submarines and had, in fact, earmarked funds to acquire them.
Because of the difficulties involved in the design and production of the submarines, however, Taiwan can decide whether to purchase them only after conducting a feasibility study and evaluating quotations, he said.
Since arriving in Washington on Sunday, the delegation has met US Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Shear at the US Department of State, Derek Mitchell, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense in charge of Asian and Pacific security affairs, and several senators and congressmen.
During the meetings, the US officials have expressed support for Taiwan’s efforts to seek international recognition, particularly its bid to join the International Civil Aviation Organization, Lin said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
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