TAIWAN SHOULD CONSIDER BUYING UAE MINI SUBS: DEFENSE MINISTER
ROC Central News Agency
2006-05-15 15:59:43
Taipei, May 15 (CNA) Taiwan should consider purchasing mini submarines from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to beef up the country's defenses, Minister of National Defense Lee Jye said Monday.
Lee confirmed during a meeting at the Legislative Yuan National Defense Committee that the military has since last year been assessing and planning for the procurement of UAE-produced mini underwater carriers that he said can be equipped with torpedoes and will significantly beef up the marines' strategic preparedness.
The assessment and planning was initiated out of consideration of the military's needs as well as the fact that only the UAE is willing to sell them to Taiwan, Lee admitted.
Lee said the Ministry of National Defense will probably submit a proposal regarding the procurement of the craft in the next legislative session, but added that he is not optimistic about the passage of such a proposal through the legislature, where the opposition "pan-blue alliance" controls a slight majority.
The defense minister also discounted allegations linking the military's plans to buy weapons from the UAE to President Chen Shui-bian's recent stopover in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi en route to Latin America.
He rebutted opposition Kuomintang (KMT) legislators' referral of Chen's visit to Abu Dhabi to the mini sub plan, saying that such "blind referral" only undermines Taiwan's self-defense preparedness.
Lee also described as sheer fabrication when KMT Legislator Su Chi asked whether Taiwan might enter bilateral cooperation with countries such as Libya on nuclear technology exchanges.
(By Deborah Kuo)
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