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US delegation to sign warship deal next week

A US military delegation will come to Taiwan next week to sign the contract for Taiwan's purchase of four Kidd-class destroyers, defense sources said yesterday.

The delegation, which will be led by high-ranking officials from the Pentagon, will discuss the delivery of the four destroyers with Taiwan's naval authorities.

The first destroyer is scheduled to be delivered on July 2003, with the remaining three to be delivered by 2005.

The navy is ready to send 300 personnel to the US early next year to take delivery of the first Kidd. The personnel have already been training for months to operate the destroyer.

It is not known whether the four Kidds can be delivered to Taiwan on schedule since they have yet to be "re-activated," a process estimated to take quite some time. Two of the mothballed Kidds are moored at a naval port in Philadelphia, while the other two are moored at a port in Washington State.

The navy will include part of the money for buying the four Kidds in next year's defense budget, which will cost around NT$28 billion in total.

All these developments seem to indicate that the navy is determined to acquire the four Kidds, despite the fact that it has yet to obtain the support of the legislature for the deal.

Next year's defense budget, which will include funding for purchasing the Kidds, will be submitted to the legislature for examination and approval in the next legislative session. Lawmakers of the legislature's defense committee from both the ruling DPP and opposition parties -- are generally undecided over whether to support the budget for the purchase.

A DPP lawmaker, who declined to be identified, said the navy has yet to present a convincing explanation as to why Taiwan should buy the four decommissioned ships, which seem to be not worth buying from a cost-effective point of view.

Another defense committee member, KMT lawmaker Lin Nan-sheng (林南生), said the Kidds are far too expensive and that the ships are destined to be dismantled and sold as scrap if Taiwan does not buy them.

"I hope the cost of the ships can be cut down to a more reasonable price. Taiwan is the only country in the world that wants to buy the four ships. I hope Taiwanese will not be treated as if they are suckers," Lin said.

A high-ranking naval official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he could not understand why the navy leadership insists on buying the four Kidds when the US has offered an alternative package.

"The US has agreed to sell Taiwan eight new Perry-class frigates -- of which we can choose between type 36s and type 77s -- as an alternative to the Kidds deal," the official said.
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