The navy is to allocate NT$470 billion (US$14.57 billion) for 12 shipbuilding projects over a 22-year period, Navy Command Headquarters Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) said yesterday.
The navy will first focus on building a new model of amphibious transport dock, high-speed mine-laying ships and a Tuo Jiang-class corvette next year, said Mei, who gave the figure for the 2018 to 2040 proposal, described as a rough estimate, at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
He said that contract designs for the new amphibious transport dock are to be finalized this year, to be followed by those for the high-speed mine-laying vessels and the Tuo Jiang-class ships — the nation’s first domestically developed stealth missile corvette.
Spending on these related projects is estimated at NT$60 billion from now through 2025, he said.
Mei was answering questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who expressed concern about which vessels would be given priority on the agenda of the navy’s mega-program to build locally developed warships.
Chiang’s questions came as the navy was set to make public 12 major warship-building projects at an investment conference in Taipei later yesterday, as part of its efforts to demonstrate the nation’s resolve to build its own ships and to attract greater investment ahead of the first-ever International Maritime and Defense Expo, which is scheduled to be held in Kaohsiung from Sept. 14 to Sept. 17.
Local media have reported that the navy is hoping to build six to eight Aegis-equipped destroyers to replace its aging Kidd-class fleet.
Washington agreed to sell Taiwan eight diesel-electric submarines in 2001, but the deal has not been completed, as the US has not built diesel-electric submarines since 1959.
Since 2001, developing locally built warships has been a hotly debated issue in the face of increasing military enhancement efforts by other countries in the region.
It is difficult for Taiwan to acquire submarines from other countries due to Chinese obstruction.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on June 4 reaffirmed her goal of pushing for a self-reliant national defense force, when she boarded a domestically built warship off Yilan County.
“In addition to enhancing naval combat capacity, it will help the development of the shipbuilding and machinery sectors, as well as system integration,” she said.
“The government will continue to promote the policy of building its own vessels,” Taiwan Shipbuilding Industry Association chairman Han Pi-hsiang (韓碧祥) said on Sunday.
Han added that he welcomes the government policy and estimated that it would push the sector’s annual production value to NT$70 billion.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
A promotional event for the launch of a drinks store led to police questioning a 26-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police said that they questioned Chang and forwarded the case to prosecutors, accusing her of producing, distributing, broadcasting or selling pornography. Police said she faces charges related to the alleged distribution of indecent photographs on Twitter and using overtly sexual innuendos to promote the store on Monday night. Officers stumbled upon the content during a routine Internet “patrol.” Chang faces a prison sentence of up to two years and up to a NT$90,000 fine if found guilty
RSS