Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Sooner or later under the new administration, people wont know how to defend their own country because of goodwill gestures. Its like " we were good to you, you wont kill us will you?"


Government denies exercise claims
HOLDING FIRE: The MND said that a display in which missiles and shells are fired simultaneously would not be part of this year’s Han Kuang military drill

By Ko Shu-Ling and Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTERS
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008, Page 3

“We decided to cancel the missile firing display to save resources.” — Ministry of National Defense press release

The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed a media report claiming that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had instructed the military not to conduct live-fire exercises during the Han Kuang military drill, scheduled to be held between Sept. 22 and Sept. 26.

Dismissing the report as “untrue,” Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma would respect the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) arrangements.

Wang made the remarks in response to a media inquiry about a Chinese-language China Times report yesterday that Ma requested the military not to fire any live munitions during the exercise as a goodwill gesture toward China.

The ministry had previously said it would not televise any part of the second-stage, live-fire exercise as Ma’s predecessors had done.

NO GUESTS

The ministry also decided not to invite the media or other guests to observe the drill, which it said was to save energy in line with government policy.

Wang said yesterday Ma had not yet decided whether to observe the drill, which will be the first Han Kuang exercise since he took office in May.

The ministry yesterday also issued a press release, denying the China Times report.

It confirmed, however, that a missile firing display, which in the past saw the military fire missiles and artillery shells simultaneously while inviting members of the media to take pictures, would be canceled this time.

“We decided to cancel the missile firing display to save resources,” the press release said.

SUPPORT

When approached for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), head of the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, expressed support for the ministry’s decision to cancel the display.

“That [display] was completely for show,” he said. “It was a scene of bustle and excitement, but completely worthless in terms of a military drill.”

Chinese Spy Ship Spotted Off Taiwan: Officials
agence france-presse
Published: 9 Sep 10:07 EDT (14:07 GMT)

Chinese spy ship spotted off Taiwan: officials

TAIPEI - A Chinese spy vessel was detected cruising off Taiwan as the island's military prepares for its biggest annual exercise, officials said Sept. 9.
Related Topics

Dong Fang Hong 2, a Chinese surveillance ship believed to be collecting data on Taiwan's military, was spotted Sept. 2 northeast of the island in international waters, Apple Daily said, citing an unnamed coast guard source.

It said the Taiwanese navy sent two frigates to track the Chinese ship to the Bashi Channel.

Taiwan's defense ministry confirmed the report.

"I believe it has something to do with collecting [our] military data," said Chief of General Staff Huo Shou-yeh.

It comes ahead of a five-day exercise beginning Sept. 22, involving more than 20,000 troops and reservists simulating an invasion by China.

The pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party used the spy ship episode to attack China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou.

"This is another warning signal to Ma," said DPP legislator Tsai Huang-lang. "Beijing will by no means reciprocate despite Ma's repeated conciliatory steps."

But Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintang played down the significance of the event, saying he believed that Taiwan's military has also tried to collect information on China's forces.

Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased since Ma was elected in March on a platform to boost the economy and improve ties with China.

The Taipei government has agreed not to deploy long-range missiles capable of hitting Shanghai, the China Times reported this week, although it has started rolling out shorter-range cruise missiles.

The U.S. State Department has cleared work valued at up to $1.1 billion by Honeywell International Corpon engines for a key Taiwan fighter aircraft even as it sits on Taiwan's new big-ticket requests. A notice to the Senate said Honeywell had been licensed for the continued manufacture, assembly and testing of components for the F-124 engine used in Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Fighter.

A copy of the notice, dated August 4 and addressed to Vice President Dick Cheney in his role as president of the Senate, was obtained by Reuters Thursday. At issue was a direct commercial sale, not a government-to-government deal subject to the Defense Department's Foreign Military sales process and a 30-day congressional review.

"We treat these as proprietary information," said State Department spokesman Jay Greer of the notice to the Senate regarding export license approvals under the U.S. Arms Control Export Act. "And we don't talk about them."

After long delays, the Bush administration is now expected to notify Congress of at least some big-ticket, much discussed arms sales to Taiwan before Congress adjourns for the year, said a Senate staff member who monitors the issue.

Eight such cases have been bottled up with a total potential value of $12 billion, including six Patriot PAC-3 batteries, design work for eight diesel submarines, submarine-launched Harpoon missiles, and AH-64D Longbow attack helicopters.

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"Floating sand bar" ?!?!



Grounded Navy boat may be scrapped

By David Young, The China Post
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 9:37 am

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan -- A Taiwan Navy missile boat, which cost NT$400 million (US$13 million) to build,may have to be scrapped since it can’t be re-floated after it ran aground at Putai.

The Kuang Hwa No. 6, with a crew of 16 aboard, hit what the Navy calls a “floating sand bar,” on which a small lighthouse stands at the mouth of the fishing port of Putai, while taking part in Operation Hang Kuang No. 24 last Thursday.

All of the Navy’s attempts have failed to re-float the 180-ton missile boat, built by the China Shipbuilding Corporation in Kaohsiung.

Tugs were sent to pull the Kuang Hwa away, but they couldn’t get it off ground. The small warship, with its bottom scraped ajar by tetrapods in the ebb tide, was fixed to the sea bed a couple of yards away from a breakwater of the fishing port.

The crew were evacuated and four missiles removed. This lightened the vessel, but all attempts to re-float it was in vain. Worse, the flow tide pushed it even further on the tetrapods, which opened more holes in its bottom when it hit them.

There is no danger of sinking, but Typhoon Jangmi’s lashing of Taiwan during the weekend rocked the missile boat and flooded it with sea water. The engine was damaged beyond repair.

Two options remain open to the Navy: Scrap the FACG-60 missile boat, or dismantle and reassemble it to save the prototype designed by Taiwan engineers.

The least costly way is for the Navy to scrap it. Reassembly is not just costly, but nobody is even sure if the resulting jigsaw puzzle would be as good as new.

One thing Putai fishermen could not quite understand is whether the Kuang Hwa hit the sand bar, as the Navy claimed, or the tetrapods in the first place. The Navy says the floating sand bar at Putai was not marked. That was the alibi the Navy offered for the accident.

A floating sand bar moves on ground at the bottom of the sea. As the ground moves, the lighthouse built on it moves as well. There are two lighthouses at the mouth of the port in Putai near Chiayi. Both of them seem solidly built on solid ground.

“Why, no ship has ever run aground here for as long as I remember,” an elderly fishing boat skipper says. “You know,” he adds, “the port can accommodate a freighter displacing up to 1,200 tons.”

All skippers have to do to guide their ships safely to port is “just as simple as to steer them in through the wide mouth of the port,” says the weather-beaten fisherman. The two lighthouses are like the gate posts of the port, he adds. There can be no missing them even at night.

One conclusion is inevitable. The accident was due to human error. Liu Chih-chien, political warfare chief of the Naval Fleet Command, admits the Kuang Hwa skipper was at fault. “We recommend disciplinary action on six senior crew members,” he says. Their identities were withheld, however.

The Kuang Hwa was ordered to join four other missile boats off Putai and then to enter port for “resupply” during the sea maneuver, which was part of Operation Han Kuang, an annual exercise to test the capability of the armed forces to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

Though Liu refuses to say, the Kuang Hwa skipper must be “too green” to safely berth his missile boat.

The question remains why a not-much-experienced officer should captain an upgraded missile boat, part of the main-stay in sea battles when hostilities start between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.