President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has acknowledged Aerospace Industrial Development Corp’s (AIDC) work on refitting the air force’s fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons and expressed the expectation that the upgrades would strengthen Taiwan’s national defense.
Tsai on Friday visited AIDC’s Taichung complex and received a briefing on the upgrade plan, the Presidential Office said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan in 1992 purchased the fleet of older-model F-16s, which have since undergone several upgrades.
Tsai praised the firm’s “great team,” the statement said, adding that two employees of Lockheed Martin, the aircraft’s manufacturer, told her that they thought AIDC’s team was one of the best in the world.
A nation’s sovereignty and peace rely not on compromises or concessions, but on a sound national defense capability, Tsai was quoted as saying, adding that while the path toward developing the nation’s indigenous defense industry is challenging, “we must push ahead in a bid to protect national sovereignty and maintain regional peace.”
Separately on Friday at an event marking Armed Forces Day in Taipei, Tsai said that Taiwan has been “aggressively promoting indigenous national defense” with help from US arms sales.
“We are locally building our submarines and fighter jets, and these are not just slogans,” she said.
She cited planned US sales of M1A2 tanks and F-16Vs to Taiwan as proof that “our determination to defend ourselves has also won support from the international community.”
Blueprints for new submarines, a submarine factory and a jet trainer prototype are all in the works, Tsai said.
China fiercely opposes all arms sales to Taiwan, but has specifically objected to more advanced fighter jets such as the F-16V, whose active electronically scanned array radar is compatible with that of the F-35 stealth fighters operated by the US military.
US President Donald Trump early last month announced his approval of the sale of 66 F-16Vs in an US$8 billion deal, which is pending approval by the US Congress.
The US has in the past several months also approved the sale of 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, valued at US$2.2 billion.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Fox News late last month that he expected arms sales to Taiwan to continue.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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