Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
The meeting, to be held in the second half of the year, would have been Tang's second visit to the US since taking office.
Tang rejected the invitation mainly to avoid the US arms dealers who accosted him during his last visit to the US, the sources said.
In his last visit to the US in 2001, Tang was approached by a number of arms dealers who tried several ploys to promote their companies' products, according to the sources.
"Tang did not feel comfortable about the conditions. He did not want to have close contact with arms dealers. But because the meeting was held by a private organization, he could not choose who he met," said a defense source who has knowledge about the matter.
"He does not think it necessary for him to develop any links with arms dealers," the source said.
Tang has a "clean" reputation that has allowed him to avoid the scandals of some of his predecessors.
But another defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tang might be clean himself, but keeping away from all possible sources of trouble might be counter-productive.
"All arms deals involve certain kinds of irregularities. There is no way to avoid it. The best way to stay out of trouble is to have no arms deals at all," the official said.
"Even weapon systems bought from the US ... could have serious problems if checked carefully. A defense minister has no way to stop it from happening," he said.
Tang has been very careful in handling arms deals with the US, but he might turn out to make the same mistake as the navy did after the murder of Captain Yin Ching-feng (
Since his murder, which has yet to be solved, the navy has been reluctant to make large weapons purchases.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it