The Control Yuan team investigating the Mirage fighter plane purchase has asked the deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, Joseph Wu, (
The Control Yuan yesterday provided the relevant years and documentary numbers, and asked the Presidential Office to investigate if it were in possession of any further related files.
Wu said the investigation would be prompt, and that any further materials, if found, would be submitted to the Control Yuan as soon as possible. The Control Yuan hopes to receive an answer from the Presidential Office within two weeks.
In addition, the Control Yuan has passed a resolution asking five members of the Control Yuan, Chao Chang-ping (
The Control Yuan has previously invited officials from the Ministry of NationalDefense and the Air Force General Headquarters to a closed-door meeting to explain the procedures leading to the decision to purchase the Mirage fighters and the additional budget allocations.
The Control Yuan is of the opinion that several items in the ministry's and the air force's explanations are impossible to clarify.
After the meeting, Control Yuan members told the press that some of the explanations regarding the purchasing, reporting and decision-making procedures were contradictory, and that the Control Yuan therefore had requested the military to provide further documentary information.
In addition to price changes in several reports regarding the Mirage purchase, there is also the question of whether the large additional budget allocations were reasonable. This is something that now must be clarified by the Control Yuan's investigative team, which is already analyzing ministry and air force data.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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