Legislators from across party lines yesterday said the Ministry of National Defense's proposed budget for the purchase of eight diesel-electric submarines from the US was too high, with one lawmaker leaving the vice minister embarrassed after disputing figures the ministry provided.
"It makes no sense for the country to procure a diesel submarine at a price of two to 2.5 times that of a regular diesel submarine sold in the international arms market," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
US estimate
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Vice Minister of National Defense Hou Shou-yeh (
Hou said that after including training and logistic costs, the purchase of weapons systems and factoring in estimated inflation, the ministry had proposed a budget of NT$288 billion (US$8.65 billion) for the eight submarines.
The figure works out to about US$1.08 billion per vessel.
Hou also provided examples of other countries' submarine procurement contracts and said that submarine costs fluctuate.
Hou said that Malaysia, India and Chile have all purchased French-built Scorpene class submarines, but because of differences ranging from the vessels' tonnage, power systems, weapons systems and when the contract was signed, their prices differed.
Hou added that according to Jane's Defence Weekly, while France had sold Chile Scorpene-class submarines for US$250 million it had charged India US$540 million each and Malaysia had paid US$580 million for the sub.
However, People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
Details
Lin said regarding India, the ministry had quoted a Jane's Defence Weekly article that was published on Aug. 17, but the article also said the US$580 million price included a penalty fee that the two countries had agreed to negotiate on that the ministry had purposely failed to mention.
In addition, Lin said, according to the Sept. 23 edition of Jane's Navy International, France has agreed to waive the fee, so the submarine's price will be US$400 million.
Lin also said that under its contract with Malaysia, France sold the country two Scorpene-class submarines for US$580 million each, but had also offered an Agosta-class submarine for training for free.
Lin said that the ministry had purposely concealed the information to promote its proposed budget for the submarines.
An embarrassed Hou acknowledged that the ministry's data was outdated.
"The ministry made a mistake and it should have offered new data," he said.
The submarine procurement deal has long been stymied. The budget for the subs is included as part of the special arms budget bill, which has been blocked 30 times in the legislature.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.