Taiwan has signed three contracts with the US worth NT$10.69 billion (US$329 million) to procure spare parts for its air force and navy, the government said yesterday.
According to a notice on the Government e-Procurement System, the deal to procure “standard” and “nonstandard aviation parts and accessories” and “ship parts and accessories” was signed by the Ministry of National Defense’s Defense Mission to the US and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
The notice said the contracts are valid from the day they were signed until the second half of 2026.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The equipment included in the purchase would be used by the air force and navy at facilities in Pingtung, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the notice said.
In other news, the National Audit Office’s report for the first half of the year showed that of the ministry’s 238 projects planned for this year, 62 had not received funding and 49 funded projects had not yet reached 90 percent implementation.
According to the office’s report, the ministry projects had a total budget of NT$136.50 billion and could allocate NT$7.33 billion, or 5.38 percent of its budget, to 62 projects.
The 49 projects funded that have not reached a 90 percent completion rate, which include the purchase of new tanks, were given NT$16.45 billion, or 12.06 percent of the year’s total, the report said.
The ministry had six months to act on its budget, and little progress was made on projects waiting for funding and ongoing projects, the agency said.
The agency said it had notified the ministry to make budget plans and review why budget implementation has been behind schedule.
In response, the ministry said it planned to fund its projects in the second half of the year.
The ministry said it had ordered its units to step up oversight and project management to realize a 90 percent completion rate.
Through budget reallocation and project reviews, it aims to reduce the risk of projects falling behind schedule, the ministry said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RSS