Legislators from across the political spectrum formed an alliance yesterday to persuade the US to transfer the technology needed to build submarines in Taiwan.
"As the United States has agreed to sell the Republic of China eight conventional diesel-powered submarines, we'll push our government to ask US authorities to transfer technical expertise for building at least six of those submarines in Taiwan," said Lin Yu-fang (
According to Lin, South Korea persuaded Germany to transfer the technology required to build 11 of the 12 submarines it bought in 1987.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Other countries, such as Brazil and Turkey, have made similar requests when they negotiated submarine procurement deals," Lin said.
Noting that the planned submarine deal will cost at least NT$200 billion (US$5.71 billion), Lin said that if some of the submarines are built in Taiwan, it will contribute a lot to the nation's shipbuilding and defense industries.
Lin said the new alliance will monitor the government's handling of the submarine procurement project.
"We'll also ask the Cabinet to set up an inter-ministerial task force to promote the `warship self-building' policy," he added.
Speaking on the same occasion, PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
"If the United States is willing to transfer certain key technology, CSBC will be able to build conventional submarines," Liu said, adding that such a deal would also help rescue the debt-ridden state-owned firm.
TSU Legislator Huang Chung-yuan (
Other alliance members present at the news conference included DPP Legislator Chu Hsing-yu (朱星羽) and KMT lawmakers Chiang Chi-wen (江綺雯) and Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
Meanwhile, Lin said the alliance will present a draft bill later this month pushing the government to seek technology transfer from the US while negotiating the submarine deal. The alliance will also solicit the support of the industrial and academic communities for the proposal, he added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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