An Air Force official yesterday told the legislature that the US could announce the approval of the sale of F-16C/D fighter aircraft to Taiwan as early as June.
“We have learned that the US military supports the F-16 deal and are optimistic that the US might announce the sale after May,” Air Force Chief of Staff Major General Liu Chen-wu (劉震武) told the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee.
He said the military was awaiting the announcement.
The military expected to sign a letter of offer and acceptance for the deal in November and that at the time the military offered to make an initial payment of NT$19.9 billion (US$653.8 million), he said.
The military’s budget request in 2006 showed that the Cabinet had allocated NT$16.03 billion to begin the procurement of F-16s, even though Washington had yet to approve the deal.
The initial payment was only a fraction of the total cost for 66 aircraft. But the funds were returned after the US did not approve the arms deal.
The legislature set aside NT$20 billion for the purchase of F-16s last year, but it requested that the funds be frozen until the deal was approved.
Liu made the presentation to the legislative committee with the hope that the committee could support funding for the acquisition.
The committee agreed yesterday to unfreeze the funds if and when the US has announced the deal.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS