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Defense minister reiterates importance of F-16 C/D purchase

ROC Central News Agency

2011/09/17 21:03:11

Taipei, Sept. 17 (CNA) Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu reiterated Saturday Taiwan's hope to purchase F-16 C/D jet fighters from the United States, after it was widely reported that the U.S. will not offer Taiwan the advanced planes in a new arms package.

Congressional staffers were cited as saying that in a briefing Friday, the U.S. Department of State informed Congress that the U.S. will offer Taiwan an upgrade of its existing F-16 A/B fleet but not the F-16 C/D jets.

An upgrade of the F-16 A/B fleet would be an important breakthrough, but the purchase of the F-16 C/Ds could not be replaced, Kao said at a hospital in Hualien City after visiting families of three pilots who were killed in a plane crash during a military training mission Tuesday.

Explaining Taiwan's current arm sales request, Kao said his ministry will first seek to obtain diesel-electric submarines, then F-16 C/D jet fighters, and finally, equipment to upgrade its F-16 A/B fleet from the U.S.

The minister said Taiwan hopes to obtain all three weapons systems over time and stressed that none of the systems could be considered substitutes for each other. (By Andrew Liu and Christie Chen) Enditem/ls