Sat, Feb 16, 2008 page3

• No profits from arms firm: MND

  QUICK FIX Vice Admiral Wu Wei-rong said establishing Taiwan Goal was meant to help the military get around political obstacles that are blocking arms procurements

  • By Mo Yan-chih / STAFF REPORTER, WITH CNA
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  The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday denied that the government had profited financially from a newly established arms dealing company called "Taiwan Goal" and said the firm had been created to drive the nation's arms procurements.

  Vice Admiral Wu Wei-rong (吳偉榮), director-general of the Armaments Bureau, said the company sought to cooperate with foreign arms suppliers and introduce arms manufacturing technologies from other countries.

  "Cooperating with foreign arms suppliers helps to reduce the sensitivity of arms exports and create more jobs in arms maintenance services. It's a global trend," Wu told the legislature at a session to explain the functions of the company.

  Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on Thursday confirmed a report by the Chinese-language China Times that an arms firm had been established.

  Although Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) said on Thursday that 45 percent of Taiwan Goal's initial capital was sourced from his ministry, Chang said it was a private firm.

  Taiwan Goal was established at the end of last month, the premier said.

  In response to a question from KMT Legislator Alex Fei (費鴻泰) yesterday, Wu acknowledged that he had traveled to Europe on Dec. 25 last year to meet officials from the French and Dutch armaments bureaus, with whom he discussed future cooperation.

  Wu rebutted reports that he would serve as the company's general manager.

  Wu had told a press conference on Thursday that Taiwan faced many obstacles when procuring arms from abroad.

  In addition, once a purchase is secured, the government still has to spend excessive sums on arms maintenance because Taiwan's military is blocked from foreign production and maintenance lines because of the nation's sensitive political status, Wu said.

  "The nation's failure to expand its international sales of locally made weapons has also contributed to a waste of its scientific research resources," he said.

  Establishing a national defense management, production and trading company would resolve these problems, he said.

  With such a company, the government would be able to integrate technology transfers between foreign contractors and local industries and export locally developed technologies or weaponry components to overseas arms producers, he said.

  Citing a privately run national defense company in Singapore, Wu said it facilitated that country's purchase of Lafayette frigates from France, while also winning a considerable share of the contracts to assemble Lafayette hulls and combat systems on Singapore soil.

  Capital of NT$200 million has been underwritten for Taiwan Goal, with NT$90 million coming from the defense ministry, Wu said at the time, adding that the project was still in the planning stages and that the ministry had not injected the funds yet.

  If the plan comes to fruition, the company will not begin operating before June, he said.

  KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) yesterday said the government formed after the March 22 presidential election should not acknowledge any contracts signed by the firm, as a caretaker government should not sign contracts without authority.

  Shuai accused the Executive Yuan of seeking to profit from the NT$150 billion (US$4.7 billion) defense budget by establishing a small arms dealing company with an initial capital of less than NT$200 million.

  At a separate setting yesterday, Chang denied the allegation that he had received a hefty commission for helping set up the arms firm.

  "It [Taiwan Goal] just registered officially as a company on the 28th of last month," Chang said.

  "The Executive Yuan would not be so naive to think that it could get a commission from a company that is less than a month old," he said.

  Chang reiterated that Taiwan Goal was a private firm established to develop the nation's national defense sector.

  In response to criticism that the government should not have set up such a venture so close to the presidential election, Chang said Taiwan has an election almost every year.

  The Executive Yuan should carry out its work in a way that benefits the people and the nation as a whole, regardless of elections, he said.

  That is "what democracy should be," Chang said.

  ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHELLEY SHAN
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