A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday.
The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase.
To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning.
Photo: Reuters
The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training facility in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), where training on the tanks would start after the Lunar New Year holiday, a source said.
The “T” in the M1A2T denotes that the tanks are a special version for Taiwan, they said.
The military is to receive a shipment of 42 Abrams tanks and another of 42 tanks over the next two years, Ministry of National Defense records showed.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
The Abrams is “decades more advanced than” the combat vehicles the army currently uses, and the tank’s 120mm main gun would enable the military to compete with the main battle tanks used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the source said.
“The average speed of the new tanks is also twice that of Taiwan’s current tanks, which would enhance the efficiency of troop reinforcements,” they said.
“Furthermore, the Abrams’ aiming capability is more than five times that of Taiwan’s current tanks, and it can maintain a continuous hit rate,” they added.
The M1A2Ts are equipped with a thermal management system that can significantly reduce the leakage of heat from the modern electronic equipment on board, enhancing their concealment on the battlefield, they said.
In an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published on Dec. 6, retired major general Kuo Li-sheng (郭力升) said the M1A2T Abrams tanks would be a generation ahead of Taiwan’s US-made M60A3s and the indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have designs dating to the 1980s.
“Fielding the M1A2T would not only increase the army’s numerical strength, but would be a qualitative leap forward,” he said, adding that Taiwan has sought to acquire the tanks since the 1990s.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by