美商售助台潛艦國造 + Taiwan a Flashpoint

choi

(1)
(a) 張加 and 洪哲政, 獨／美商售助我潛艦國造 取得魚雷、飛彈等紅區裝備. 聯合報, Apr 7, 2018 (local time 12:02; 即時報導)
https://udn.com/news/story/10930/3073334
("川普政府對台灣「潛艦國造」（IDS） [Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) program] 的嚴峻態度將有重大轉變。美方一名熟悉台海軍事的人士6日向本報記者表示，美方近日將以商售管道，輸出我國「潛艦國造」所需技術協助。據了解，美國國務院將核准我潛艦國造所需儎台技術協助與相關裝備商售案輸出許可 [marketing license]，以及「海昌計畫」所需包括戰系等「紅區」裝備")
Note:
(i) 獨 = 獨家  exclusive
(ii) Asked to comment about the UDN report. 國防部發言人陳中吉{:] * * * 國防部對此表示感謝 * * * 總統府發言人林鶴明稍後表示，美國已正式告知台灣駐美代表處/" 中央社, Apr 7, 2018.
(iii) There is nothing in the website of US Department of State, no English-language report in this regard except from Central News Agency.
(b) 已服役70余年！台湾地区海军 '海狮' 号潜艇还在活动. 央视网, Mar 11, 2018
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av20683706/
(entire text of a 53-second video clip: "最近，台湾地区海军 '海狮' 号潜艇出港航行，这艘老船已经服役了超过70年。'海狮' 号原为美国海军SS-478 '带鱼 [goppy] ' 号潜艇，1945年7月服役，1948年进行了改装。该艇退役后于1973年以训练艇名义交付台湾地区，是目前台湾仅有的4艘潜艇之一。台湾地区海军一直坚持着不让 '海狮' 级退役，是因为在可预见的未来，他们不再有获得潜艇的机会")

(2) Banyan | Travel Travails; Taiwan is again becoming a flashpoint between China and America. Economist, Apr 5, 2018
https://www.economist.com/news/a ... -sides-taiwan-again

Quote:

Taiwan Travel Act "sailed through both houses of Congress with not a single vote opposed to it. * * * Donald Trump chose to put his cardiogrammatic scrawl to it [signed it into law]. Given the chaos in Washington, the act reveals a remarkable consensus. It urges, though it does not mandate, high-level visit

"And the relationship he [Trump] has subsequently developed with Mr Xi has been larded with admiration for the dictator’s power and style. Nothing Mr Trump has said or done suggests a remotely similar admiration for Taiwan.

"A test comes in the summer, when America opens a gleaming building in Taipei to house its unofficial embassy, with rumours that a member of the cabinet may attend. Mr Bolton's presence might genuinely alarm China [this sentence hints the Trump administration is thinking of dispatching Bolton to Taiwan for that occasion]. Alternatively, it might interpret the Trump administration's steps over Taiwan as a mere prop to pressure on trade.

Note:
(a) ECG stands for electrocardiography (the technique), whose printout is electrocardiogram. Quotation 1 suggests that Trump's signature looks like a cardiogram. (Still, the adjective cardiogrammatic appears in this article only, in the entire Web.)
(b) About quotation 2.  
lard (vt):
"1.1 : smear or cover (a foodstuff) with lard or fat to prevent it drying out during storage  <farmhouse cheeses are dipped in wax or larded>
2 : (usually be larded with)  embellish (talk or writing) with an excessive number of esoteric or technical expressions  <his conversation is larded with quotations from Coleridge>"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lard

(c) The sectional heading "There Xi blows" is a wordplay on
there she blows.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there_she_blows
(click "quotations")

is also written as "thar she blows."
(i) where away (adv)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/where%20away
(ii) "on the lee-beam"
(A) lee (n; etymology): "the side (as of a ship) or area that is sheltered from the wind"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lee
(B)
* beam (n): "nautical : the extreme width of a ship at the widest part"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beam
* beam (n): "nautical  the direction of an object visible from the port or starboard side of a ship when it is perpendicular to the centre line of the vessel  <there was land in sight on the port beam>"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/beam