The launch of the nation’s first domestically built amphibious transport dock marks a milestone in Taiwan’s shipbuilding history and would significantly boost the navy’s capabilities, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at a launch ceremony in Kaohsiung.
Tsai said that the amphibious transport dock, named Yu Shan (玉山) after the nation’s highest peak, is the navy’s first in the 10,000-tonne category.
With its imminent deployment, the nation’s defense capabilities would be boosted, as the navy’s operations would be enhanced, she said at the ceremony at the Kaohsiung shipyard of shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船).
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
CSBC in April 2018 won a bid to build an amphibious transport dock prototype at a cost of NT$4.6 billion (US$161.6 million).
The prototype is expected to go into service in the first half of next year, replacing the navy’s only amphibious transport dock, the ROCS Hsu Hai, which has been in service for 50 years and was formerly named the USS Pensacola.
The new ship is to be used to support amphibious operations and transport missions, while also serving as a hospital ship on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in peacetime.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
Military sources said that it is to be fitted with an MK-75 76mm gun, two MK-15 Phalanx close-in weapons systems, and two Tien Chien-2N radar guided surface-to-air missiles.
It is able to support various landing craft, assault amphibious vehicles and two helicopters, and has a maximum load of 673 people, the sources said.
CSBC chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) said that the vessel is 153m long and 23m wide.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a senior analyst at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the navy had been using the decommissioned US-made amphibious transport dock, but because of its age, the maintenance costs were high, so the nation decided to build its own amphibious transport dock.
The launch was part of the nation’s ongoing efforts to expand its indigenous defense capacity by building its own aircraft, ships and submarines, an initiative that began when Tsai took office in May 2016.
EMBRACE CHANGE: Jensen Huang told NTU graduates that instead of worrying about AI itself, they should worry that people with expertise in AI would be taking their jobs Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the computer industry, and Taiwanese companies could play a major role in replacing the world’s traditional computers as they are the foundation of the industry, Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang made the remarks while giving the keynote speech at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) commencement ceremony. AI has created immense opportunities, and versatile companies can be expected to take advantage and boost their position, while less flexible firms would perish, he said. “In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry and a golden opportunity for the companies of
‘ARCHAIC’: An interpretation of a law that considered Chinese as Taiwanese nationals was scrapped after the death of a Chinese in Kaohsiung led to state reparations An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation. Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). The previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate. The Mainland
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
RSS