The air force might make changes to contracting rules that would bar the gift shop at the Aviation Education Exhibition Hall in Kaohsiung from selling toy fighter jets modeled after types used by China.
The air force yesterday announced the plan following a protest organized by the Taiwan Statebuilding Party outside the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei.
Miniatures of the Russian-built Su-30 were being sold at the shop, which did not inform customers that the aircraft is operated by a hostile foreign power, said Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱), convener of the party’s Taipei chapter.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The exhibition hall is part of the Air Force Academy in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (岡山).
Parents who visit the museum with their children “have no idea that the toy they buy was modeled after fighter jets that China is using to menace Taiwan,” she said.
The packaging of the toys show that they were made in China, as were many other products sold at the shop, Wu said, adding that many of them bear descriptions in simplified Chinese, indicating that they were produced for the Chinese market.
She said it is not appropriate that a government-run gift shop is rivaling China’s Taobao online shop, which offers similar products.
She said that when the Taiwan Statebuilding Party brought up the issue the previous day, the ministry brushed off the complaints, saying that selling the toys does not contravene any laws and does not affect public morality.
Responding to the concerns with “bureaucrat speak” is an embarrassment for the government, as it has pledged to bolster civil defense and related efforts in public education, Wu said.
The party would not have raised the issue if the museum utilized models of Chinese airplanes to teach visitors about the enemy’s aircraft, but the venue made no effort to do so, she said.
Yang Pei-hua (楊佩樺), executive officer of the party’s Kaohsiung chapter, who is married to a soldier, said the ministry’s excuse that the toys have an educational purpose is offensive to Taiwanese service members and their families.
Later that day, the air force issued a statement saying it had filed a request that the contractor involved clearly mark all model airplanes that are sold at the shop.
The service might require the shop operator in future contracts to obtain authorization before selecting products to be sold there, it said.
Educating the public about military aircraft and enabling them to identify them remains part of the museum’s civil defense education mission, the air force said.
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