Space exchange with China urged

Criticizing a number of crippled satellite projects conducted by the National Science Council (NSC), legislators yesterday called for the exchange of space technology with China in a bid to promote Taiwan's space industry.

At a question and answer meeting held by the Science and Technology Committee (科技及資訊委員會) yesterday, lawmakers voiced disappointment with recent setbacks in three ongoing satellite projects.

Most of the concerns expressed were over technical problems and Chinese interference with the projects, centering around the failure of foreign contractors to obtain the necessary government export licenses to follow through with their commitments.

Legislators urged the NSC to consider cooperating with China.

"This has nothing to do with politics. China has well-developed space technology, and we can definitely benefit from it," said KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中).

Ting and DPP legislator Chen Zau-nan yesterday (陳昭南) drafted a petition calling for a cross-party task force under the committee to discuss the possibility of a cross-strait exchange of space science and technology. The idea has gained the support of dozens of committee members.

Stressing security concerns over the proposal, NSC Chairman Weng Cheng-i (翁政義), however, said that any future exchanges should be "consistent with Taiwan's interests and implemented only in accordance with due legal process."

Since the early 1990s -- when Taiwan initiated a 15-year-long state-funded project, costing NT$19.7 billion, to develop space technology -- China has interfered with Taiwan's efforts.

After ROCSAT-1 (中華衛星一號) was launched successfully in January 1999, Chinese interference continued with the ROCSAT-2 (中華衛星二號) project, in which Taiwan is collaborated with foreign firms.

A German firm had been contracted to build the main part of ROCSAT-2, but it had failed to get a high-tech export license from its government, which was under pressure from China. A French company, Matra Marconi Space (MMS), then stepped into the breach.

NSC officials admitted yesterday that China had warned France last week about its cooperation on ROCSAT-2 between the NSC and MMS, to which France had granted a high-tech export license.

It was reported on June 22 that Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao (朱邦造) had said at a regular ministry briefing that Sino-French ties had been disturbed in the past by this kind of issue.

KMT legislator Huang Hsien-chou (黃顯洲) yesterday asked NSC officials whether they had any strategy to deal with emergencies caused by pressure from China.

"Might France's bid for involvement in a high-speed railway project in China affect Taiwan's satellite contract with France?" asked Huang.

NSC officials said that they had conducted a risk assessment.

"We were told by our contractor that the French government rarely withdraws licenses that have been issued," said Wang Hung-chih (王鴻智), director of the National Space Program Office under the NSC.

NSC officials yesterday sought to play down the significance of the legislators' ideas of space cooperation, telling reporters privately that Chinese space technology did not quite meet Taiwan's needs.

A launch date for the satellite has been given as the middle of 2003. However, the deadline for receipt of bids to build the payload system, originally scheduled for January, has been deferred to the end of June because there were no bids received by the deadline.