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Navy training trip altered due to radiation, oil price concerns: MND

ROC Central News Agency

2011/04/05 19:34:14

Taipei, April 5 (CNA) The Navy's fleet of friendship has made some changes to its regular long-distance training voyage due to concerns over rising world oil prices and radioactive fallout from Japan's nuclear power plant, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday.

The ministry said the voyage has been altered somewhat because it wanted to conserve oil consumption and avoid any radioactive fallout.

However, the quality of the training program has not been compromised nor has the goal of enhancing relations with Taiwan's diplomatic allies been changed, the MND said.

The ministry was responding to a report in the Liberty Times daily that said the Navy had made changes to a planned training voyage by the fleet to Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the South Pacific and the Latin America in celebration of the Republic of China's centennial.

Following the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant in Fukushima on March 11, the Navy decided to visit only diplomatic allies in the South Pacific due to radiation concerns, the local paper reported.

The fleet departed Taiwan on March 19 and is expected to return in mid-May, the report said.

On board the three vessels in the fleet are graduating cadets of the ROC Naval Academy and the Fu Hsing Kang College of National Defense University.

Cited a ranking military official, the report said a long-distance trip similar to the Navy's global voyage in 2005 had been planned but the MND had changed the plan on budget considerations and concerns over possible Chinese suppression of countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

However, the MND said in response that there had been no attempts at suppression or intervention by China with regard to the plans for the training voyage.

The MND said it usually asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with Taiwan's diplomatic allies to arrange the voyage.

"The training program will continue -- there has been no such thing as Chinese intervention and suppression," the ministry said.

The long-distance training voyage has taken Navy cadets to central American countries four times over the past decade, according the MND.

(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Lilian Wu)

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