Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
The vehicles would be of great value in the country's defense, Lee said.
"The SDVs are capable of damaging China's vehicles. If China's ships attempt to gather in harbors before launching a military attack on Taiwan, the SDVs could sneak up to the harbors and attach mines on the Chinese ships," Lee told the legislature's National Defense Committee yesterday.
Lee said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators were mistaken in their claim that the government had proposed to buy the vehicles from the UAE in exchange for allowing President Chen Shui-bian (
Actually, Lee said, the ministry had proposed the procurement of SDVs from the UAE at the beginning of last year.
"It is an offensive weapon which this country has found difficult to procure internationally, so we considered buying it from the UAE," he said.
He said that the SDVs were also being used by the US Navy's SEAL special forces.
"The budget proposal for their procurement will be tabled at the next legislative session in the fall," Lee said.
He said that he was not confident that the SDV proposal would gain the legislature's support, in light of the controversy surrounding the proposed purchase of three advanced weapons systems from the US.
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
He said that National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Parris Chang (
"The defense ministry should not listen to the National Security Council and should propose arms procurements which are really necessary for defense," Lin said.
KMT Legislator Su Chi (
Safa is an international arms broker who has been on France's wanted list since 2004 over his alleged involvement in a French arms-sale scandal, Su said.
Speaking at a press conference in Taipei yesterday, Su displayed a photo of Safa sitting with other Libyan guests in the Presidential Office.
This proved his close relations with Taiwan and Libya, Su said.
Lee said he had no idea what Su was talking about.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed
RSS