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.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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