It is the legislature’s job to oversee and, if necessary, freeze budgets, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday after criticism that Taiwan’s indigenous submarine development was being hindered by legislators calling for funds to be withheld.
Citing concerns over export licenses and blueprint designs, lawmakers from across party lines have pushed for a motion to freeze a portion of the budget for the submarine project, which has been earmarked to receive NT$10.51 billion (US$368.69 million) for construction of a prototype.
KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) proposed a freeze on NT$5 billion, citing failure to complete procedural requirements before starting a detailed design for the prototype.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞) proposed a freeze of NT$2 billion; Chiang (江啟臣) proposed NT$1 billion and KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) proposed NT$20 million.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) proposed a freeze of NT$1 billion, saying that his proposal was aimed at urging the Ministry of National Defense to obtain Washington’s permissions to allow Taiwan to purchase critical equipment from the US.
Ma, Wen, Chiang and Lu said they doubted that export permits for critical components for construction of the submarines would be granted, while the wait would probably mean that the project would not meet its proposed deadline.
The prototype is scheduled to be launched in 2024 and undergo combat trials for a year before production of a fleet of submarines begins in 2025.
Details of the project have only been discussed at closed-door sessions at the Legislative Yuan, a policy at odds with a transparent budget, Chiang said.
At a meeting on Wednesday last week, Naval Shipbuilding Development Center director Shao Wei-yang (邵維陽) told the legislature that keeping details of the project classified is key to its success and asked that lawmakers approve the project’s funding as had been proposed.
The committee did not reach a decision over the budget and has forwarded the issue to be debated by the legislative caucuses.
Chiang said that the legislature is tasked with overseeing and, if it is deemed necessary, freezing portions of budgets.
The DPP seems to have forgotten this since it took power, he said.
In related news, the Keelung shipyard of CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday marked the commencement of manufacturing of vital equipment for naval vessels.
With the exception of critical technology and experienced managers from abroad, CSBC would prioritize employment of Keelung residents and Taiwanese to boost the independence of Taiwan’s defense industry, the company said.
Additional reporting by Weng Yu-huang and Lin Hsin-han
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS