Songshan Airport Relocation Touches on National Defense, Wellington Koo Comments for the First Time
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an has floated the idea of relocating Songshan Airport and redeveloping the site as a "Taipei AI Park." The Ministry of National Defense has taken a cautious stance, and the issue has heated up the election campaign.
- Defense Minister Wellington Koo responded for the first time, saying the ministry would offer professional input during the evaluation process to ensure that overall defense capabilities are not affected.
- Songshan Airport currently handles takeoffs and landings for presidential and ministerial special flights and National Airborne Service Corps missions, as well as medical evacuations to the nearby Songshan Branch of the Tri-Service General Hospital, giving it a key military and security role.
- Shen Po-yang, the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for Taipei mayor, argued that three major problems — military use, medical evacuation, and outlying island transport — remain unresolved, and called for a comprehensive inter-ministerial discussion.
- Former Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen voiced strong support for the relocation, noting that potential development benefits could reach hundreds of billions of NT dollars, but criticized Chiang Wan-an for a lack of prior research and expressed dissatisfaction with the "knee-jerk pushback" within his own party.
- Chiang Wan-an pledged that after relocation, defense requirements would not be compromised, medical evacuations would not be interrupted, and the interests of outlying islands would not be affected. Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, for her part, offered to share the city's development experience following the relocation of Shuinan Airport.
At the same time, pilot retention has also become a focus in the Legislative Yuan. The Ministry of National Defense confirmed that dozens of Air Force pilots have left or retired this year, some moving to civil aviation, and that related support measures await a comprehensive review.
Outlook: With just 47 days until the nine-in-one local elections, the Songshan Airport relocation will remain a focal point of contention between the Kuomintang and the DPP, and the two camps are currently negotiating the details of the upcoming televised Taipei mayoral debate.