After undergoing several sea trials, Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” is still on schedule to be delivered in November, the navy said today.
Answering questions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮) said that the submarine would undergo three to four surface trials before conducting submerged tests.
Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) asked about the submarine’s status and testing schedule.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The Hai Kun first left port last week to test its stability when surfaced, Chiu said, adding that tests are proceeding as planned.
Further trials would focus on its stability and performance in different sea conditions, he added.
After surface trials, the submarine would conduct 50m and 200m dive tests, with the goal of completing all trials by Sept. 30 and delivering the vessel in November, Chiu said.
There are 34 test items divided into three stages: surface trials, shallow water trials and deep water trials, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that rumors about issues with the submarine’s hull were first spread by China’s Voice of Strait in a radio broadcast on Wednesday last week and amplified by Internet commentators.
The media should verify rumors before quoting them and contributing to misinformation, Shen said, adding that the Ministry of National Defense should be quicker to communicate with the public.
Shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan should also have been speedier in debunking the rumors, Shen added.
“If the other side will definitely engage in this type of behavior, then clarifying the situation sooner would be helpful to the public,” Shen said, adding that the ministry might need to pay closer attention to this issue.
Koo promised to review and improve the ministry’s communication with the public and the media.
The Hai Kun’s hull does not have any defects, and the protrusions seen on it are critical sonar components, Koo said, adding that British and Australian submarines have similar designs.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
RSS