The Air Force chief of staff yesterday denied allegations of bribery amid media reports that an aircraft subcontractor had received payment after faking maintenance reports last year.
Chinese-language newspapers, including the United Daily News, reported yesterday that the Aero-space Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔公司) had not carried out aircraft checks and maintenance as stipulated in its contract, but nevertheless received NT$70 million (US$2.1 million) in payment.
"I assure you that no bribery was involved," Air Force Chief of Staff Major General Liu Chen-wu (
Liu said that the Air Force discovered last October that AIDC had not carried out the maintenance checks stipulated in its contract.
The Air Force then immediately grounded all of its AT-3 and T-34 training jets and asked AIDC to complete the work. When the aircraft checks were completed two weeks later on Nov. 21, all the aircraft resumed regular missions after safety checks had been completed, Liu said.
"The case is now under investigation. We will cooperate with prosecutors to uncover the truth and mete out punishment when necessary. We will not shirk our responsibility," he said.
A Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office investigation showed that AIDC became the Air Force Academy's contractor on June 10, 2005. The contract states that AIDC is responsible for regular maintenance work on the academy's 60 AT-3 and 20 T-34 training planes.
The contract, worth NT$3.5 billion, included important structural examinations -- including X-ray checks -- to ensure that the aircraft are safe enough for aerial maneuvers.
An X-ray check scans the structure of a plane to check for metal fatigue, eliminating the need to dismantle the craft.
Kaohsiung prosecutors said that AIDC's X-ray machines were not working, so the company subcontracted the work to Chung-lien Corp (
Although AIDC did not complete the X-ray checks between July 2005 and last July, it still received NT$70 million from the Air Force, with Chung-lien allegedly helping AIDC fake X-ray reports for the 80 planes, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Kaohsiung prosecutors detained Chung-lien head Hu Chin-chu (
In response to public concern that the academy's training planes may not be airworthy, the academy assured the public yesterday that its aircraft were fine.
"We immediately grounded our planes after discovering the problems in October and asked AIDC to complete the work," said Colonel Hsiu Chao-chiang (
Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (
"[Outsourcing maintenance] is a good policy. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater," Lee said when approached by reporters for comment during a visit to a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus.
"As the situation is already under control, it's unlikely that the ministry will terminate its relations with AIDC. AIDC reacted to this incident in the right way," he said.
Lee said the ministry would investigate the matter and would not cover up any irregularities.
AIDC has made improvements in its maintenance procedures since last October, he said.
Defending the ministry's policy of outsourcing maintenance, Lee said that the objectives of the program were to develop the nation's aerospace industry and to create job opportunities.
"We can't reverse the policy because of one or two [problematic] cases," he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS