A new fleet of marine research vessels is expected to be formally established in the first half of next year, helping Taiwan to expand its capability in marine and oceanographic research and boost the nation’s efforts to develop its own shipbuilding industry, experts familiar with the project said.
The fleet is to include the 2,385-tonne Legend, and three new research vessels, two 454-tonne ships and one 1,000-tonne.
The two smaller vessels, the New Ocean Researcher II (NOR II) and the New Ocean Researcher III (NOR III), are expected to be delivered this month or next month, and go into service in the first quarter of next year, while the larger New Ocean Researcher I (NOR I) is expected to be delivered early next year and go into service in the second quarter.
Given Taiwan’s abundant coastal ecosystems and diverse ocean-floor environments, the fleet would facilitate studies of ocean currents and help with national defense, National Taiwan University Institute of Oceanography director Jan Sen (詹森) said.
The fleet would be a milestone in the indigenous shipbuilding program, with the design and construction of the new vessels undertaken by CSBC Corp, Taiwan, Jan said.
The experience of building ships would allow CSBC to take orders from abroad for marine research vessels and further boost the local shipbuilding industry, he said.
Taiwan’s other three active ocean research vessels, named the OR I, OR II and OR III, are outdated and lack advanced observation equipment, while the Ocean Researcher V sank off Penghu after striking a reef in stormy weather on Oct. 10, 2014.
In January last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a NT$1.6 billion (US$51 million) plan and contracted CSBC to build the three new research vessels.
After the ministry takes delivery, the new vessels are to be handed over to National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Ocean University and National Sun Yat-sen University.
The Legend is operated by the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL).
A committee for the new fleet, which is comprised of officials from the ministry, the Ocean Affairs Council and the ships’ management units, would be established to coordinate the dispatch of the vessels, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Shieh Dar-bin (謝達斌) said.
The Legend is mainly used for national research projects, while the new ships are to conduct missions depending on the needs of their respective universities.
The Legend has a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle that can reach depths of 3,000m, NARL Taiwan Oceanic Research Institute Director Wang Chao-chang (王兆璋) said, adding that it can be used for deep-sea exploration and sampling.
It is also equipped with a sea-floor seismic observation system to conduct earthquake research, Wang said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods