Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology Director Vice Admiral Kung Chia-cheng (龔家政) yesterday dismissed an opposition legislator's claim that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had asked the institute to develop nuclear weapons.
"This is a total fabrication, a groundless rumor," Kung said when approached by reporters after attending a meeting at the legislature's National Defense Committee to review the institute's annual budget.
"We have never conducted any research and development of nuclear weapons. We do not have qualified personnel for that kind of research, neither do we have the necessary equipment," Kung said in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi's (
Kung said that all nuclear matters -- mainly relating to nuclear power -- had been transferred to the Cabinet's Atomic Energy Council in 1988, adding that the institute had no plans to recruit personnel or purchase any specialized equipment to conduct nuclear research.
Asked about Kung's response, Su stood by his claims, saying that his source -- "an important DPP legislator" -- said the president had ordered the development of nuclear weapons.
Su said his source told him the news during a gathering, where "many DPP legislators were present," after the Double Ten National Day, but the source did not specify when the president gave the order.
"I believe President Chen criticized me harshly [over the allegation] because he wanted to silence these DPP legislators," Su said, declining to reveal his source's identity.
"But I think it is highly likely that the president gave the order ... or this ranking DPP legislator would not have expressed his worries during the luncheon," he said.
Su said his source's information was "highly credible" because the president was in a "difficult political situation" and probably gave the order in a "desperate" bid to protect himself.
Chen might use the development of nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip to seek political asylum in the US to escape possible imprisonment over his role in the "state affairs" fund probe after his presidential term expires, Su said, without providing evidence.
Su said he believed the institute would continue to deny his claims until the project is completed.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS