Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶福造船) is in arrears on bond payment obligations amounting to NT$720 million (US$24 million) and the shipbuilder has until Friday next week to pay them before the government terminates a contract with the firm for minesweepers, the navy said yesterday.
Ching Fu was supposed to pay NT$720 million in advance payment bonds, the first installment for its third-phase obligations, Navy Command Planning Division Chief Rear Admiral Chen Tao-hsing (陳道興) told a news conference at the Ministry of National Defense.
On Monday, bond issuers First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) and other state-run banks refused to grant Ching Fu an extension to furnish the advance payment bond.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The bank’s heads told the legislature’s Finance Committee that they have little confidence in the shipbuilder’s ability to repay a syndicated loan it took out.
Following the refusal, ministry inspectors, legal affairs officials and attorneys yesterday morning confiscated NT$7.2 billion from Ching Fu’s account at First Commercial Bank’s Kaohsiung branch, Chen said.
Ching Fu was contractually obligated to pay for bonds worth NT$1.5 billion, NT$3.3 billion and NT$2.4 billion in three phases, Chen said.
After the shipbuilder failed to meet the payment deadline, the ministry confiscated the entire sum, he said.
Ching Fu has also missed the minesweeper program’s milestones, which it must catch up with by Friday next week or the see the contract terminated, Chen said.
Chen declined to comment on the ministry’s plan for its next-generation minesweepers, citing legal concerns, saying only that it would evaluate all options.
A potential roadblock for continuing the locally built minesweeper project is that US-based Lockheed Martin and Italy-based Intermarine had obtained technology export permits exclusively for Ching Fu, Chen said.
The ministry would have to renegotiate the export permits for US combat systems and Italian hull technology, assuming another contractor will take over the project from Ching Fu, Chen said.
Keeping Ching Fu on board with the program has become “practically impossible” at this point, Chen said.
The ministry would need to reopen bidding for the minesweepers before it can find another contractor or draw up a new contract, he said, adding that the alternative is to scrap the program.
Top naval officers are giving serious thought to abandoning the project in favor of upgrading the existing fleet, a ministry official told the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on condition of anonymity.
Handing the contract to another shipbuilder would delay the project by two to three years and might reflect negatively on the government should Ching Fu take the decision to court, the official said.
Potential alternatives to Ching Fu include CSBC Corp, Taiwan, Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Co and Lung Teh Shipbuilding Co, the official said.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao and Lo Tien-pin
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by