Following the premier's dismissal on Friday of a legislator's accusation that the government had launched a nuclear weapons program, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said "there is no nuclear missile in Taiwan," adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration "is not going to develop any nuclear missiles."
Chen made the remarks during a trip to Tainan City, in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi's (蘇起) claims.
PHOTO: CNA
At a question-and-answer session at the legislature on Friday, Su said that the president had recently ordered Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology under the Ministry of National Defense to begin developing nuclear weapons, including nuclear warheads.
Su said he had overheard a heavyweight DPP legislator talking about the nuclear program and saying he was against it.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Despite the threat posed by hundreds of Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan, the development of Taiwan's military weapons focuses on war prevention and self-defense, Chang said.
During an interview with the Central News Agency later on Friday evening, Su acknowledged that he had no evidence to back his claims, eventually conceding that he had drawn his conclusions based on "inference."
He said that he had inferred that the government had launched a nuclear weapons program based on information he has "accumulated over the years, as well as on observations and an understanding of the international situation."
Su said that the remarks he claimed to have overheard were "the last straw" and had brought him to a final conclusion.
Su said "the government's intention to develop nuclear weapons" was a "big change," adding that he felt an obligation to "disclose this information."
Chen called Su's claims "a complete lie," adding that making up such a "sensational story" indicated the legislator did not care about national security and interests.
Chen said that the KMT government had considered developing nuclear weapons 20 years ago, adding that it was preposterous to pin such allegations on the DPP.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS