During a meeting with shipbuilders in Kaohsiung yesterday, president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that she is determined to have naval vessels built locally.
Accompanied by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), policy director Chang Ching-sen (張景森) and Taiwan Institute of Economic Research vice president Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), Tsai met with more than 20 shipbuilding business operators in a closed meeting.
“The national defense industry is one of the ‘five innovative industries’ and building naval vessels, especially submarines, is important,” Tsai told a news conference after the meeting. “We are not just talking, our policy team did its research before we started our tour around the nation to meet with representatives from each industry and we have some rough ideas already.”
Tsai said that the development of the national defense industry should go hand-in-hand with overall economic development and national defense capacity should be built up through innovation.
Taiwan had once ranked sixth globally in number of shipbuilding orders, she said.
Her plan would include reviving Kaohsiung’s once-prosperous shipbuilding industry through building naval vessels, followed by exploration of overseas markets, Tsai said.
Chen said that Kaohsiung, was once the center of shipbuilding in Taiwan, and the city welcomes Tsai’s plan to support the industry with government resources, since the industry has been fighting alone for too long.
Jong Shyn Shipbuilding chairman Han Pi-hsiang (韓碧祥), who is also the president of the Shipbuilders’ Association of Taiwan, welcomed Tsai’s determination.
“[Tsai’s plan] is like a heart-strengthening injection for the shipbuilding industry,” Han said. “In past decades, governments have repeatedly promised to build naval vessels, but their promises were never fulfilled, I hope they are realized this time.”
A domestically developed “suicide drone,” also known as a loitering munition, would be tested and evaluated in July, and could enter mass production next year, Taiwan’s weapons developer said on Wednesday. The yet-to-be-named drone was among nine drone models unveiled by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on Tuesday. The drone has been dubbed the “Taiwanese switchblade” by Chinese-language media, due to its similarity to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which has been used by Ukraine in counterattacks during Russia’s invasion. It has a range of more than 10km, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and an electro-optical
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
RSS