Taiwanese businesses have won contracts worth US$200 million in connection with a massive military construction project on the US territory of Guam, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said last week.
While Japan will most likely take the lion’s share of the contracts for the US$14 billion military base expansion work, Taiwan has been encouraging local firms to bid for smaller contracts, Yang said.
The contracts are the result of a mission launched by the ministry in cooperation with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) in November last year to bid for government procurement opportunities in the Guam buildup project. It was the first international government procurement bid by Taiwan since the country’s accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) in July that year.
The Guam buildup is part of a US military realignment in the Pacific that involves the relocation of the US Third Expeditionary Marine Force headquarters from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam.
It will turn Guam into a major hub of US military operations in the Pacific, with facilities for submarines, aircraft carriers and Navy Special Operations forces. Housing and facilities will also be built for some 23,000 active military personnel and dependents who will move to Guam as part of the re-alignment.
According to TAITRA, a team of more than 20 Taiwanese businesses, including Asia Cement, Taiwan Glass and sanitary ware maker Hocheng Corp, is taking part in the project in a joint venture with US companies.
As of last month, the team had obtained US$100 million in orders for building materials such as fireproof walls and ceilings, TAITRA said, adding that the value is expected to increase in coming years.
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