• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

U.S. postpones delivery of assault amphibious vehicles to Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

2016/07/23 18:27:21

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) A U.S. decision to postpone delivery of AAV-7 assault amphibious vehicles ordered by Taiwan is the result of discussion between Taipei and Washington, the Navy said Saturday.

It dismissed as untrue a media report that describes the postponement as indicating a change in relations between Taiwan and the United Sates.

According to the Liberty Times newspaper, Taiwan has placed an order for 36 AAV-7 assault amphibious vehicles with the United Sates, with the first batch originally scheduled to be delivered in the second half of this year.

Washington, however, informed Taipei recently that the delivery date will be postponed for three-and-a-half years until 2020, the paper said, citing an unnamed "authoritative source."

Although the U.S. side told Taiwan that the postponement is being made due to "technical issues," the military suspects there are political factors behind the decision, the source said.

In response to the report, however, the Navy explained that the decision to change the schedule was made based on the need to accommodate the sales of other weapons systems.

It noted that the United States has continued to provide defensive weapons to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, which demonstrates that Taiwan-U.S. relations remain stable.

It said that assisting Taiwan to develop and maintain a strong self-defense capability is in the mutual interests of Taipei and Washington and that the two sides will continue to consolidate their security partnership to contribute to regional peace and stability.

(By Claudia Liu and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/J