Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) yesterday confirmed plans to bring forward the nation’s construction of 11 Tuo Jiang-class corvettes by completing them in two instead of three phases.
Yen made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in response to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng’s (羅致政) question about whether the military is making adjustments to counter the Chinese threat.
The corvette is a crucial piece of the military’s asymmetric warfare and shortening its construction schedule would increase the nation’s combat capability, Yen said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The ministry purchased 12 corvettes in total, with the first ship delivered in 2014, it said.
The other 11 corvettes are to come in two types: The first three anti-aircraft models are to be completed by 2025, while five anti-ship models, which were originally scheduled to be completed between 2030 and 2032, are to be brought forward to 2025, the ministry said.
The completion of the third batch, originally planned for 2039, could be moved forward as the need arises, it said.
The armaments of the third batch, whilst unknown, could include the extended range versions of the Hsiung Feng II (HF-II) anti-ship missiles and the HF-III missiles, which offer more effective deterrence against enemy vessels, the ministry said.
With a displacement of 700 tonnes, the anti-air variants are to be armed with ship-launched Tien Chien II missiles, while the anti-ship variant are to carry HF-II anti-ship missiles and HF-III supersonic anti-ship missiles, the ministry said.
The ministry has opted to contract the construction of the surface platforms via an open bid, but would commission the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to design and install the combat systems onboard, the ministry said.
The commission agreement and the public bid are to begin next month and should be completed by October, it said.
Navy Command Headquarters Chief of Staff of the Navy Vice Admiral Lee Tsung-hsiao (李宗孝) told lawmakers he is confident that the open bid would conclude successfully and that construction could begin next year.
Construction of the second batch will not necessarily have to wait for the completion of the first batch, Lee said, adding that it could begin as soon as next year or in 2020.
Yen also told the committee that the national defense budget would surely increase more than 2 percent for fiscal 2019.
The ministry will comply with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) instructions on increasing the national defense budget as a percentage of GDP by no less than 2 percent of the previous year’s budget, the ministry’s Comptroller Bureau Director Chen Kuo-sheng (陳國勝) said.
SCHEDULE: Nancy Pelosi was expected to visit the legislature for about an hour before speaking with democracy advocates at Jingmei Human Rights Park US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taipei last night and was reportedly scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), legislators and democracy advocates before departing later today. The speaker departed from Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon and touched down at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at about 10:43pm, where she was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The stop marks the first time in 25 years that a sitting US House speaker is visiting Taiwan. Beijing has strongly condemned the visit, with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) yesterday warning that the US “will
MIDWAY ACTIVITY: A source said that Chinese aircraft conducted tactical moves of briefly ‘touching’ the median line of the Taiwan Strait before circling back from it The Ministry of National Defense yesterday raised its combat alertness level until noon tomorrow in response to Chinese live-fire exercises ahead of a visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The alert is to be adjusted depending on the military threat from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a source familiar with the matter said. However, the source added that combat readiness remains at “normal readiness” under the nation’s two-tier system and had not been raised to “emergency readiness.” Before Pelosi’s arrival yesterday, several Chinese warplanes flew close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, another source told
‘IRRATIONAL ACTS’: The defense ministry condemned the drills, during which China tested successors to missiles deployed during the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995 and 1996 China yesterday fired several Dongfeng ballistic missiles as it began four days of unprecedented military drills off Taiwan proper following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei the previous day. On Tuesday, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said Beijing would “take all necessary measures” in retaliation should Pelosi visit Taiwan during her Asia tour. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from 1:56pm to 4pm fired 11 Dongfeng missiles into waters north, east and south of Taiwan proper, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Taiwanese armed forces, using “forward warning and surveillance mechanisms,” monitored the missile tests
ANNEXATION PLANS: Remarks by the Chinese ambassador to France showed that Beijing seeks to normalize genocide, re-education and gulags, a US official said European and US officials condemned comments from Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye (盧沙野), after he on Wednesday said that Taiwanese would be “re-educated” after any annexation by China. In an interview on French television, Lu accused the Democratic Progressive Party of “extremist” propaganda and turning Taiwanese against “reunification” with China. “We will re-educate. I’m sure that the Taiwanese population will again become favorable of the reunification and will become patriots again,” Lu told BFM TV. The term “re-education” has been used to describe Chinese authorities’ treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defense Chairwoman