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Acquiring subs from U.S. a top priority: defense ministry

ROC Central News Agency

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is so far not aware of plans by Taiwan to build submarines locally, and acquiring subs from the United States remains the top priority in Taiwan's submarine fleet development program, the MND spokeswoman said Monday.

Lisa Chi said the defense ministry will strive to carry through on the purchase of diesel-powered submarines from the United States as part of an arms procurement deal that Washington approved in 2001.

Chi made the remarks in response to a United Daily News report Monday that due to the lack of progress in Taiwan's efforts to purchase submarines from the United States, the state-controlled China Shipbuilding Corp. had recently completed an assessment report on the prospects of Taiwan building its own submarines and that the Ministry of National Defense was weighing the report at the request of the Executive Yuan.

Chi added that so far Washington has not notified Taiwan of an alleged freeze on arms sales to Taiwan. The country's policy of acquiring U.S. weapons systems -- including anti-tank missiles, Apache helicopters, Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries, diesel-powered submarines, P3C anti-submarine aircraft and sea-launched Harpoon missiles -- remains unchanged, she stressed.

Moreover, she said, "Taiwan's determination to purchase these defensive weaponry systems will not change, even though cross-strait relations are thawing."

She reiterated that the administration has, via various channels, expressed Taiwan's firm intention to Washington to obtain defensive weapons from the United States as soon as possible. (By Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/ pc