A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator yesterday demanded an apology from a top US defense official, saying he had misspelled the name of Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Asia and the Pacific Richard Lawless mixed up the minister's name in the letter, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
The letter, signed by Lawless, was addressed to Lee on June 27 this year, and was in response to the Taiwanese Navy's request that the US assess the feasibility of a two-phase approach of selling diesel submarines to Taiwan.
According to the letter provided by Lin, the minister's salutation was correct. But the latter part of the letter reads: "As you are aware, on 20 May 2004 and 7 July 2004, I wrote to former Defense Minister Li Chieh on this issue."
The reference to "former Defense Minister Li Chieh" appears to be a mistaken reference to Lee Jye. Lee took up the post of Minister of National Defense on May 21, 2004. His predecessor was Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明).
Lin refused to reveal how he had gotten hold of the letter but said it was an authentic copy.
"It is unbelievable that there were such errors in government correspondence. It could be an unwitting mistake, but it could also be that the US did it deliberately, to humiliate Minister Lee and vent its anger over the long-delayed arms deal," Lin said.
The legislator said the US should apologize for the error and Lee should send a letter to Lawless demanding an apology, to defend his dignity and that of the nation.
Lin said that he opposed the US' offer of a two-phase approach to sell Taiwan diesel submarines.
"According to the letter, the US made no concessions on the deal," he said.
Lin said that the design fee for the diesel submarines would be US$360 million (NT$10.94 million), as mentioned in the letter.
The price was far above quotations on the international market, Lin said.
"The high design fee will push the price of each diesel submarine up to US$1.2 billion. Is it possible that we can accept such a high figure?" he said.
Lin said he also opposed a condition mentioned in the letter that Taiwan would not be allowed to maintain the diesel submarines in accordance with the design, without submitting to the US' export control regulations.
"Now that we need [to spend] so much money to get the design graphics, we should retain the intellectual property rights," Lin said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS