Bidding to supply the frame of the navy’s new amphibious assault ship, priced at NT$3.6 billion (US$117.6 million), is to take place tomorrow, military sources said.
The first bidding in April failed to attract offers due to the low overall budget, sources said.
Despite minor revisions, the amount of allotted funding has not changed, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The project, codenamed Hong Yun, is to receive NT$6.2 billion in funding starting in 2021, of which NT$3.6 billion is allotted for the frame while the remaining funds are to be used for weapon and technical support systems, sources said.
The main difficulty would be whether shipbuilders are able to manufacture a frame for a combat-capable vessel at that price, the sources said.
All eligible bidders must show documented proof of past contracts for building sections of a ship weighing more than 1,000 tonnes, the ministry said, adding that at least three eligible bidders must be present for the bidding to start.
Whether the President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration’s indigenous shipbuilding project would be on schedule depends on the outcome of the bidding, the sources said.
However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) cautioned the ministry against setting the bar too low.
The project must have balanced funding, and an insufficient allocation — which would cause contractors to give bids that are too low — should be avoided, Tsai Shih-ying said.
Allowing shipbuilders to have reasonable profit margins would help the nation maintain a healthy defense industry, he said.
The project seeks to update the navy’s amphibious landing vessels, which have all been in service for more than four decades and require increasing maintenance costs, the ministry said.
The vessel would ideally displace about 10,000 tonnes and would be armed with ship-borne surface-to-air missiles, 76mm auto cannon turrets and the Phalanx close-in weapons system. Its primary duty would be to ferry amphibious craft for landing, such as the AAV-7.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS