Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Subs too vital to be politicized

Taipei Times Editorial

Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), who heads the Indigenous Defense Submarine program, would have been proud on Thursday last week as he attended the ceremony to launch the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal.” The unveiling of the nation’s first domestically made submarine was a major milestone in what has been a long journey.

However, allegations by retired navy captain Kuo Hsi (郭璽) that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) shared information about the Hai Kun with China have prompted concerns about national security.

Huang apparently told Kuo through friends that he would prefer it if the matter were dealt with discretely. Huang, himself, had indicated that a legislator, who he did not name, had made elements of the components procurement process “difficult.”

Taiwanese communist party trio indicted

Taipei Times

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted Taiwan People’s Communist Party Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺), along with party members Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) and Yu Sheng-hung (余聲洪), over alleged contraventions of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and asked the court to consider heavy penalties.

Lin, who had been a Central Committee member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has traveled to China as a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople in China since 2007, investigators said.

After the KMT stripped him of his membership, Lin in 2016 made a failed bid for the legislative seat representing Tainan’s first electoral district, prosecutors said, adding that he founded the Taiwan People’s Communist Party in 2017 and has been its chairman since then.

Prosecutors probe submarine claims

Taipei Times

Prosecutors yesterday said they are investigating accusations of interference with the nation’s submarine program and that details of it were leaked, in what would be a serious breach of national security.

Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday last week, a major step in a project aimed at bolstering the nation’s defense and deterrence in the face of military threats from China, although it would not enter service for two years.

Indigenous Defense Submarine program head Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光) told local media last week that lawmakers, whom he did not name, had made it “difficult” for the program to purchase critical equipment, and that a contractor who had failed to obtain a bid had forwarded information to China.

Looking forward to US recognition

Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財

US President Joe Biden on Monday at the US-Pacific Islands Forum at the White House announced that the US recognizes the Cook Islands and Niue as “sovereign and independent” states, and pledged to open diplomatic relations, while reiterating that “the history and the future of the Pacific islands and the United States are inextricably linked,” news reports said.

Is Taiwan any less worthy than those two for the US to recognize its sovereignty?

The Cook Islands is a group of 15 islands with a combined land area of about 240km2 and a population of about 170,000. Niue covers about 261km2 and had a population of 1,689 last year.

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