The German government is ready to grant a 1.1 billion euro (US$1.49 billion) loan to develop the Airbus A350 long-haul passenger aircraft, a senior economics ministry official said on Sunday.
“As far as we are concerned, all pre-conditions have been met and the funds are available,” said Peter Hintze, parliamentary state secretary at the Ministry of Economics and Technology.
His statement implied that the conditions were in line with WTO rules.
Hintze said that “final issues” would have to be solved, notably how to divide up work between France and Germany on another project, the A30X, a potential successor to the A320.
“We want to be sure that [A30X] research and development will be done in Germany,” he said. “We want an agreement quickly. We want to wind up the negotiations in the spring.”
Airbus, a division of the European aerospace giant EADS, intends to launch the A350 as a rival to Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
The Airbus A350 XWB (extra-wide body) is described by the company as an eco-friendly passenger aircraft that can seat between 270 and 350 passengers.
Able to run on less fuel than current planes, its development is supported by four partner nations — Britain, France, Germany and Spain.
France has announced support of 1.4 billion euros for the program and Britain about 400 million.
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PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
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