The president yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"Chairman Ma agreed to support reasonable arms procurements and to boost the nation's defense in our April 3 talks, but the KMT has continued to block the arms bill in the legislature," President Chen Shui-bian (
"I believe the delay in procuring advanced weapons for the military is very unfair to [the public]," Chen added.
He said "the opposition parties are reckless in treating national security as child's play."
Chen said that at a critical time in the transformation of the military, the opposition parties had rejected passing an arms procurement bill for the purchase of three PAC-3 anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-powered submarines and 12 P-3C Orion submarine-hunting aircraft from the US.
Chen called for the opposition to respect reason and professionalism in the arms issue.
Chen made the remarks while presiding at a commissioning ceremony for two E-2K Hawkeye aircraft at an air force base in Pingtung yesterday morning.
"With the two new aircraft, the country will maintain its advantage in air defense. The air force will be able to respond to emergencies earlier since it will receive warnings earlier," Chen said.
He said that the E-2K is one of the most advanced warning aircraft in the world.
The air force yesterday said it currently has a force of four E-2T Hawkeye aircraft, and that it would be able to patrol the airspace over the Taiwan Strait 24 hours per day after the two new aircraft join the force.
The new aircraft, accompanied by fighter jets, passed over the ceremony, and an air show during the event drew cheers from the assembled crowd.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported