A Taiwanese legislator yesterday said that Taiwan was planning to build six minesweepers as part of efforts to boost its defense capabilities, despite improving political and economic ties with China.
The six minesweepers, along with two US-built Osprey-class minesweepers Washington agreed to sell Taipei earlier this year, would be used to replace the nation’s ageing minesweeping fleet, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said.
“The deal will cost more than NT$30 billion [US$938 million] and production is scheduled to start in 2012,” Lin said, citing Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱).
The design of the six planned vessels has been completed, said Lin, who sits on the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Military analysts have said that Taiwan needs to augment its capabilities against Chinese mining operations should war break out in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese military could use mines to hamper commercial traffic in the strait and thereby enforce an economic embargo against Taiwan.
This latest development follows an announcement by the Ministry of National Defense last week that the Air Force would be acquiring indigenously produced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) rather than seeking to purchase such platforms from the US.
The UAVs, which are being developed by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST, 中山科學研究院), would be utilized for surveillance purposes and would be unarmed.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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