[Global Times Special Correspondent Zhang Ruo] Tsai Ing-wen's "submarine-made" joke made a "high-priced toilet", revealing the tip of the iceberg of the various malpractices of the case over the past few years.

"Self-built submarines" is the most "ambitious" investment case for armament consolidation since Tsai Ing-wen's administration came to power.

However, from the infighting of arms dealers and manufacturers, to insufficient funds, to the question that "it is not self-made at all", Taiwan's "submarine self-made" project can be said to be accompanied by various disputes from the very beginning.

The epidemic has aggravated the delay in the construction period

  In response to the "high-priced toilet" case, Taiwan's "China Times" reported on the 18th that the submarine's vacuum toilet needs to be specially customized due to the mute requirements, each worth NT$80,000.

However, the M manufacturer responsible for the production actually quoted 80,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to 2.4 million Taiwan dollars.

  It is understood that the background of manufacturer M is quite deep, and it is a long-term cooperative manufacturer of Taiwan International Shipbuilding Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Taiwan Shipbuilding").

Before the "submarine self-built", the equipment for daily necessities on board made by Taiwan Shipbuilding, such as beds and mattresses, were all contracted by M manufacturers.

As a result, this time, because the price of the toilet was outrageous, Zheng Wenlong, the chairman of Taiwan Shipbuilding, called back the ticket, and Taiwan Shipbuilding finally spent NT$150,000 to develop it on its own.

After learning about it, Huang Shuguang, the convener of the "submarine self-made" group, ordered that he no longer have any dealings with the M manufacturer.

  Taiwan's United News Network previously reported that the so-called "submarine self-made" project has actually been proposed on the island since the 1990s, but it was not officially finalized and implemented until Tsai Ing-wen came to power.

"Self-made submarines" is officially code-named "Haichang Plan". It is said that the Taiwan Navy will develop, design and build diesel-electric submarines on its own. In 2016, Huang Shuguang, then the "Commander of the Naval Command", officially prepared the budget for the first time.

  Specifically, Taiwan ships are responsible for the construction. The displacement of submarines is about 2,500-3,000 tons, and 8-10 ships are expected to be built.

The analysis said that the mainland has more budget to develop the navy. In addition to the two aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong, various new warships have been formed, and the total number of ships has exceeded the US military.

However, the Taiwan military believes that anti-submarine warfare is a slightly weaker part of the PLA, so underwater combat power is a "sharp weapon" to effectively defend Taiwan.

  In March 2017, Tsai Ing-wen attended the signing ceremony held in Kaohsiung City, where the "Ministry of Defense", "Chinese Academy of Sciences" and Taiwanese ships signed a memorandum of "self-built submarines".

Zheng Wenlong claimed at the time that the contract design of the prototype ship will take four years, and it will take another three or four years to build. If it is calculated from December 2016, it is expected that the submarine prototype ship will be launched within 8 years, and the army will be formed within 10 years.

  However, this "ambition" soon met with reality.

In March of this year, Zheng Wenlong published an open letter to a Taiwanese ship for the first time, acknowledging that "submarine self-built" has encountered serious bottlenecks, and problems such as design manpower and equipment entering the field as scheduled are emerging one after another.

The military is not surprised. There has long been an internal view that "Zheng Wenlong's resignation is imperative, otherwise the submarine will be unsustainable."

Huang Shuguang said that in addition to backward equipment and contracts, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has caused problems such as overseas deliveries and restrictions on technicians going to Taiwan, which have also become the reasons for the backward progress at this stage.

On March 23, Taiwan's "Defense Minister" Qiu Guozheng admitted that "self-made submarines" are now encountering many problems, especially the sources of some "red zone" (core) equipment are very sensitive and "difficult to obtain", but he did not go further. Explain what problems.

This is also the first time that the Taiwan military has publicly confirmed that "submarine self-made" encountered difficulties.

Wu Sihuai, a "legislator" of the Kuomintang, said that some experts questioned that the Taiwan Navy currently only has Zuoying and Suao to park submarines, and it may not be able to maintain operational sustainability during wartime.

  On the 15th of this month, Taiwan's "United Daily News" disclosed that there were 130 people on the Taiwanese ship because they overlapped the footprints of those diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia, and the Kaohsiung City Government required these employees to be isolated for 10 days.

There were 130 fewer people in 10 days, delaying the already lagging progress.

  The shortage of staff is difficult to solve.

According to Taiwanese media, Taiwan's "Chinese Academy of Sciences" has expanded its workforce by nearly 50% in recent years in order to comply with the policies of the Tsai authorities, but at the same time it is facing the issue of the retirement of a large number of senior talents.

According to people familiar with the matter, in addition to cooperating with policies such as "submarine self-made" and "higher education machine self-made", the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" also shoulders the work of mass-producing precision ammunition with a special budget, and its personnel tasks are saturated.

If the manpower cannot be replenished in time, it may face the dilemma of "there is no factory and no one".

Infighting among manufacturers is serious

  Although the progress is very uneven, Taiwan military officials are still striving to launch the first self-made submarine in September next year.

The reason for this is that "politics overpowers professions".

  Taiwan's "China Times" disclosed on January 24 this year that due to the severe military situation on both sides of the strait and the unknown attitude of the new leaders after May 2024 on "submarine self-made", whether the DPP can win the "election" and in the The "Legislative Yuan" won a majority, so Tsai Ing-wen asked the project team and Taiwanese ships and other units to advance the launch of the first submarine to 2023.

Taiwan media commented that it was the first time that Taiwan built a submarine, and it was difficult to obtain equipment.

In particular, the launch of the first prototype ship should not be rushed to meet political needs. The Taiwanese ship and the project team should be more professional, and should not be launched a year before Cai resigns in order to meet the political considerations of the Cai authorities or internal propaganda.

  The American "diplomat" website wrote earlier that the biggest challenge of Taiwan's "submarine-built" plan is funding. The first four submarines alone will cost as much as $5 billion, not including long-term operation and maintenance costs and the latter four. construction cost of the ship.

The article said that many interest groups support Taiwan's self-built submarine on the grounds that it may benefit the local shipbuilding industry, but their estimates of economic benefits are obviously too optimistic.

  However, this "big fat meat" still attracts all parties to covet.

In January this year, Taiwan Shipbuilding issued a 1600-word statement, one of which mentioned that the construction technology assistance and selection finally signed a contract with S Company, which has successively sent people to Taiwan to serve as technical consultants since 2019.

During the implementation process, the Taiwan Navy and Taiwanese ships put their abilities into strict assessment and dismissed 19 incompetent personnel.

Taiwan media believes that 19 overseas technical assistance personnel were eliminated soon, which shows that there are many people who are not qualified and who pretend to know how to build submarines.

  Taiwan's Zhongshi News Network commented on the 18th that "self-made submarines" encountered bottlenecks, and the Taiwan military and Taiwanese ships pushed each other away, and the "high-priced toilet" was an example.

In fact, for a long time, there have been infighting among manufacturers over these self-built submarines.

Ma Wenjun, a "legislator" of the Kuomintang, has previously obtained multiple audio clips, revealing that arms dealers have made a lot of efforts in "submarine self-manufacturing" - for example, Guo Xi, an adviser to the "Naval Command" at the front desk, repeatedly "instructed" the manufacturers, boasting that he can directly communicate with the core generals in charge of submarines. .

He said that he understands the secret "submarine self-built" plan, and is deploying a new technical consultant team and a number of "red zone" equipment.

He believed that the price of the American sonar to be purchased by the prototype ship was too high, and asked the Korean manufacturer SI to negotiate for cheaper products from other regions. He also complained that the SI technical assistance personnel were incompetent and did not get along well with Taiwanese ship employees. He hoped that the Korean consultants of SI would return South Korea formed a new team.

Taiwan Shipyard responded with a press release saying that the incident was caused by infighting among manufacturers.

The so-called "self-made" is actually "assembled"

  Of course, the most criticized thing about Taiwan's "self-made submarines" is that they are not self-made at all.

Reuters disclosed in November last year that manufacturers and professionals from seven countries and regions including the United States and the United Kingdom secretly helped Taiwan build submarines.

Among them, retired Commodore McGee of the Royal Navy's submarine fleet is a key figure in the recruitment of the "submarine self-build" plan.

He assisted a Gibraltar-based company in recruiting engineers, including retired Royal Navy personnel.

Taipei has also hired engineers, technicians and retired naval officers from Australia, South Korea, India, Spain and Canada.

Qiu Guozheng confirmed under the "legislator" questioning, "There are our own people, and there are people from 'other places' who are invited to come."

  A commentary in Taiwan's Zhongshi Electronic News stated that, based on Taiwan's current shipbuilding strength, even frigates are difficult to achieve, let alone more sophisticated and high-end submarines.

The United States has agreed to sell the "red zone" equipment such as combat systems, sonar, and diesel engines involved in submarines, and Lockheed Martin is responsible for the integration, providing heavy torpedoes and submarine-launched "Harpoon" missiles; Raytheon is responsible for digital sonar, torpedoes The tube was designed in Italy and produced by a German mold factory; Japan assisted in the power system of the lithium battery and diesel engine, plus the shape design.

The article said that according to the current design and planning, it will be based on Japan's "Soryu-class", so Taiwan's "self-made submarine" is just an "assembled vehicle" that provides equipment around the world.

  "China Times" said that in terms of military, building more missiles that can hit Beijing will not change the situation of the war, but will lead to greater military retaliation.

From a political point of view, the responsibility of the authorities should be to avoid war, "rather than the U.S. threatening to rush, we really want to accompany us to the end."