A Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman yesterday confirmed that Taiwan was developing an unmanned surveillance aircraft (UAV), a move that provides further confirmation of a continuing arms race despite closer political and economic ties with China.
Ministry spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) said the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST, 中山科學研究院), which falls under the ministry’s Armaments Bureau, had initiated research on drones.
According to defense analysts, research on indigenous reconnaissance UAVs has been going on for at least a decade. The institute unveiled a number of UAVs in August last year — including an operational version of the Chung Shyang (中翔) — during the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition and Conference in Taipei.
A CSIST representative told Defense News at the time that the first Chung Shyang was built in 2007, with five prototypes already operational.
Asked by the Taipei Times whether the air force was seeking to obtain the Chung Shyang, which appears to be the institute’s most advanced prototype, a ministry spokesman said that “new models” were still in the research and development phase, without elaborating.
With a range of 100km and capability to fly eight hours without stopping, the Chung Shyang has day-and-night surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and can serve as a communications relay, Defense News said.
In March, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported that the army had announced it would soon deploy the nation’s first UAV under its Aviation and Special Warfare Command, though no date was given.
Yu’s announcement came a day after Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) told the legislature that the ministry had not put a US-built UAV, the Global Hawk, on its procurement list, opting instead to develop its own version.
“The air force has identified the need to acquire unmanned aircraft, but has not included the US-built reconnaissance aircraft system on its arms procurement list,” Kao said.
He also said that Taiwan, with CSIST in the lead, had been developing unmanned vehicles “for quite some time.”
Earlier on Monday, the Chinese-language China Times reported that Japan has come up with a Global Hawk procurement plan after the US military stationed the aircraft in Guam last month.
The paper also quoted unidentified military sources as saying that the air force was conducting an assessment on whether to follow suit and that it would put both F-16C/D fighter aircraft and the Global Hawk on its priority procurement list.
Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief of Defense News, told the Taipei Times it was unlikely the US would ever agree to sell Global Hawks to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
RSS