Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday defended the government awarding a contract to import military-grade explosives to a company known for selling furniture.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators last week questioned Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) after Tainan-based Home-Max Furniture Trading Ltd won a tender to import a batch of RDX, a powerful explosive material.
KMT lawmakers demanded that Koo today report to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the criteria and approval process for contractors.
Photo: CNA
DPP caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said it was unnecessary to bring the minister back, as he already explained the process and the criteria the military follows.
“Businesses in Taiwan that qualify, regardless of their name or location, can participate in tender bids, as long as they can fulfill the terms, receive the export license and permits, can obtain business agreement with manufacturers, and obtain approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs,” Chung said.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that more Taiwanese companies are needed to join the supply chain to bolster the nation’s domestic defense industry.
It is wrong to question a qualified contract bid based solely on the company’s original field of work, Wu said.
Most countries welcome domestic firms to pursue defense-related business to bolster local weapon production and enhance the nation’s military capabilities, she said.
She pointed to Taiwan’s Hocheng Corp and Swarovski of Austria, the US’ John Deere and South Korea’s Hanwha Group as prominent firms that expanded into supplying military components in their respective countries.
Wu said that opposition parties were maliciously attacking domestic defense contractors.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) called the scrutiny of the Home-Max contract part of a ploy by the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to vilify certain businesses and contractors, under the guise of uncovering fraud or malpractice, hindering the companies from participating in defense procurement programs.
“The opposition parties are seeking to impede companies not affiliated with them, to prevent from joining the government’s efforts to develop a domestic defense industry,” Chen said. “Thereby the KMT and TPP can derail the government’s plan to develop the ‘T-Dome’ defense initiative, to sabotage efforts to upgrade the nation’s weapons system and undermine the military’s capabilities.”
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