Taiwan needs advanced fighters: vice defense minister
ROC Central News Agency
2013/04/30 17:27:27
Washington, April 29 (CNA) Taiwan needs advanced fighter jets and is prepared to reduce or exclude some items on its list of arms procurement requirements if that will allow it to meet its air defense needs, Vice Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang said Monday in Washington, D.C.
Yang made the remark at a symposium on Taiwan's response to changes in the security environment jointly held by Washington think tanks The Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Yang said the advanced fighter jets needed by Taiwan require combat abilities exceeding those of the upgraded F-16A/B fighter.
Taiwan's procurement project, which covers advanced weapons, fully meets Taiwan's overall demand for air defenses, Yang said.
Yang told a CNA reporter after the symposium that Taiwan hopes to buy advanced fighters and that the country's defensive needs in the next 10-15 years will be central to its assessment of advanced fighter procurement.
In related news, Yang said that a fishery agreement recently signed between Taiwan and Japan will help improve Taiwan's security and avoid direct conflict in the East China Sea region.
Yang was in Washington to communicate with the U.S. on the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published by the Ministry of National Defense earlier this month.
The review said that Taiwan's development of asymmetrical combat capabilities and missiles is in accordance with international regulations.
(By Liu Han-yuan and Y.L. Kao)
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