Armaments Bureau Director-General Wu Wei-rong (吳偉榮) confirmed yesterday he had initially recommended the ministry not fund the newly established arms dealership Taiwan Goal.
Wu said at a press conference organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus that he had told Minister of National Defense Minister Lee Tien-yu (
Wu said the establishment of companies like Taiwan Goal was good policy, but that the timing of its establishment was wrong because the creation of the company prior to the presidential election had raised public concerns.
Asked by the caucus whether he had suggested that Lee urge President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to disband Taiwan Goal, Wu said he had "adequately" communicated with Lee, adding that Lee had seemed to agree with his position.
Wu was invited by the caucus in response to members' questions regarding Taiwan Goal.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Established at the end of last month, Taiwan Goal is led by Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), a stalwart of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) disbanded New Tide faction.
Forty-five percent of Taiwan Goal's initial capital will come from the ministry, prompting speculation by the KMT that the government was seeking to profit from the firm and that the company would be immune from legislative oversight.
KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (
KMT caucus Deputy Secretary-General Alex Fai (
Fai said the vice president of the French arms company DCNF was given a tour of Ching Fu Shipbuilding when he visited Taiwan last month. He said the Frenchman was not introduced to other shipbuilding firms because Ching Fu's owner, Chen Ching-nan (陳慶南), is a close associate of Chen Shui-bian and is deputy director of DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) Kaohsiung campaign headquarters.
Fai said the government had secretly selected Ching Fu Shipbuilding to cooperate with French arms companies.
Showing pictures of Chen Ching-nan wearing Hsieh's campaign vest, Kuo said Ching Fu's registration information showed arms-related products had become part of its business last November.
"Before that change, Chen Ching-nan began working as deputy director of Hsieh's Kaohsiung campaign headquarters," Kuo said.
Wu Wei-rong dismissed the allegation, saying the French arms company had requested the visit to Ching Fu Shipbuilding because the companies had cooperated in the past.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS