Taiwan is to postpone talks with the US on its request to buy four advanced AEGIS-equipped guided-missile destroyers from April to June, a defense source told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The postponement is prompted by several factors, including divided opinions within the navy over whether to buy the AEGIS-equipped ships, as well as failure by the two sides to reach agreement over the price of the ships, the source said.
"The navy is still divided now over whether to buy the AEGIS-equipped ships or not. One camp supports the AEGIS purchase plan, while the other camp holds an opposition stance, urging for the purchase of smaller missile boats instead," he said.
"Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Li Chieh (
The price of the destroyers is another major factor for the postponement of the scheduled talks between Taiwan and the US on the deal.
Taiwan plans to buy four of the radar-equipped warships, which are estimated to cost US$1 billion each.
"The US now asks for a price of US$800 million for each of the AEGIS-equipped ships to be built for Taiwan. We want the price to be cut to US$600 million. There will be a lot of room for negotiation between the two sides," the defense source said.
"The price does not cover the Standard-III air defense missiles, which are to become a standard weapon for the ships the US is to sell to Taiwan. If the Standard-III missiles are taken into consideration, the total price for each ship will be around US$1 billion," he said.
KMT lawmaker Chou Cheng-chih (
Chou estimates the total costs for the ships will be higher than the navy's estimate.
"We will spend around NT$160 billion [US$5 billion] on buying the four AEGIS-equipped ships. It will amount to over half of our annual defense spending [of around NT$270 billion this year.] And just think about how much more money we will spend on the maintenance of the ships. I estimate the maintenance costs will be triple the price for the four ships and their weapon systems," Chou said.
In addition to the AEGIS-equipped ships, the navy has to spend another NT$60 billion on four decommissioned Kidd-class destroyers, which the US has agreed to sell to Taiwan as an interim weapons platform before the delivery of the AEGIS-equipped ships.
The delivery of the AEGIS-equipped ships is not expected to happen before 2008, while the Kidd-class destroyers can be delivered to Taiwan in two to three years.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS