Taiwan gave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 10,000 rifles and other sweeteners in exchange for the UAE allowing President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to make an unofficial visit to the country, a local magazine said yesterday.
The Journalist weekly quoted an unnamed military source as saying that Taipei promised military, oil and aviation cooperation in exchange for Chen's Sept. 29-Oct. 1 visit to the UAE.
"Taiwan offered 10,000 self-developed T91 rifles to the UAE. When the UAE's [senior government official] Sheikh Hamid bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Taiwan in June, he visited weapons plants and expressed interest in the T91," the magazine said.
"Taiwan's small arms and military gear are popular around the world because they are good quality and are not expensive. Jordan has bought thousands of T91s because it found that T91 is more powerful than the US-made rifle M16A2 and the Russian-made rifle AK47," the magazine said.
Chen made a surprise visit to the UAE after completing his visit to five Latin American diplomatic allies late last month. Local press said Chen had met with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin-Zayed an-Nahyan and other officials.
Besides military cooperation, Taiwan and the UAE discussed cooperation in the petrochemical and aviation spheres. China Airlines is also expected to add Abu Dhabi to its Taipei-Europe route starting in the winter, the magazine said.
The magazine said that to develop unofficial ties with countries which do not recognize Taipei, the government has donated -- or sold at low prices -- weapons and military equipment to dozens of countries.
Last week, national security sources said that Vice Minister of National Defense Hou Shou-yeh (霍守業) left a legislative question-and-answer session early on Sept. 28 because he had to lead a delegation to the UAE that afternoon to promote military diplomacy and other exchanges.
The UAE has reportedly always been friendly toward Taiwan, despite a lack of official ties. Abu Dhabi is said to be very interested in buying Taiwan-made small arms.
While saying that it was too early to carry out actual military exchanges with the UAE, national security officials have said that, thanks to the good reputation of Taiwan's T91 battle rifles and other small arms in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi is especially enthusiastic about talks with Hou over the purchase of small arms.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS