Time is running out for Taiwan to buy the package of three advanced weapons systems from the US, a US Congressman warned yesterday.
"This administration is clear on the arms sale. But in three years the policy could change, because the administration will leave at the end of 2008, and we do not know the next administration's position on the arms sales to Taiwan," US Representative Rob Simmons, a Connecticut Republican, said in a speech at the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei yesterday.
Military sales take time, which means that time is running out for Taiwan to complete the transaction, he said.
Simmons suggested that the US and Taiwanese governments re-evaluate the cost of the submarines included in the package, and that the price of the submarines could be lowered.
Because opinion in Taiwan is divided on the acquisition of new submarines, with different political camps arguing over their price and design, Simmons said that officials from Taiwan and the US should sit down to discuss the issue.
"While the current quote for the eight diesel submarines is US$12 billion, industry and outside experts tell me a more accurate figure falls around US$8 billion," Simmons said.
He added that the US government needs to make the military sales process more transparent, "because the Taiwan government deserves to know in detail what its taxpayers are getting for US$8 billion."
The Ministry of National Defense has said that the submarine budget had been set up by the US Navy through an independent cost estimate (ICE) system in January 2003, and that the US Navy has refused to negotiate on the budget before the submarine purchase has been approved.
Simmons said a sensible way of solving the problem would be to separate the cost of submarine design as an advance purchase, which would give a more accurate picture of the exact cost of the overall program.
Simmons, whose district is home to General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corp, a shipbuilding firm that focuses on submarines, said that Electric Boat had declared itself capable and willing to produce a series of diesel submarines for Taiwan.
When asked for comments on media reports that the US Navy is not cooperating with Taiwan's purchase plans, Simmons said: "I heard that US naval officers might fear that if an American shipyard did begin building diesel-powered submarines for Taiwan or any other countries, the production of more capable nuclear subs would come to a halt once Congress saw that diesel subs are cheaper, and they are afraid of that."
Simmons said that he does not share this concern, because a diesel-powered submarine fleet would be unable to replace the US' strategic submarine fleet.
He said that Taiwan should recognize the threat from China as real and growing.
"On Capital Hill, Congress is especially concerned that China is focusing its military modernization efforts on weapons systems that are ideal for attacking Taiwan and for denying access to the US forces in the event of a crisis," he added.
Meanwhile, during a meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
But Ma, who has repeatedly said that the KMT will only support a "reasonable budget bill" with no timetable for passing it, later denied that he had faced any pressure from the US.
"The US' position on the issue is clear. It has never forced us to buy any weapons, and hopes that we have the determination and power to defend ourselves," Ma said after the meeting.
Ma declined to comment further on what he discussed with the US congressman during a meeting behind closed doors later yesterday.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the