A backlog of costly arms acquisitions by Taiwan could be forcing the navy to cut back on requests for frigates from the US, which threatens to exacerbate the widening tonnage gap in the Taiwan Strait as the nation decommissions ageing vessels.
Citing a Taiwanese defense industry source, Defense News said in a report published this week that the navy could request two — rather than four, as initially planned — decommissioned long-hull Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates as excess defense articles (EDA) from the US.
The article said the plan to acquire the four frigates was cancelled late last year because of cost and technical considerations, adding that the military was struggling to pay for roughly US$18 billion in weapons released by the US in the past four years.
Photo: Jimmy Chuang, Taipei Times
Although China Shipbuilding Corp (中船) is capable of building Perry-class frigates — it has built eight so far, known locally as Cheng Kung-class — the source told Defense News that acquisitions from the US would be the quickest and least costly way to add the much-needed vessels to the navy. Building them would cost upwards of US$2 billion, the source said, much higher than the “near-scrap” price under EDA, even when refurbishment and upgrade costs are added.
The Ministry of National Defense denied there were plans to request fewer frigates from the US because of budgetary considerations and added it was in negotiations to ensure the acquisition were fully operational rather than semi-complete or empty shells.
Still, the navy will be forced to decommission aging frigates in the coming years. Its eight 3,800-tonne Knox-class frigates, acquired from the US in the 1990s after nearly 20 years of service in the US Navy, are due for replacement, but so far such plans appear to have stalled.
If replacements are not found, the navy will be down to 18 vessels with more than 3,800-tonne displacement — four Kidd-class destroyers, eight Perry-class frigates and six La Fayette-class frigates — Defense News said. This would continue a downward trend in tonnage for the navy, which went from 43 destroyers and frigates above 3,000 tonnes during the 1996 Missile Crisis, 39 in 2000 and 18 after the Knox-class frigates are taken out of service.
Plans to produce smaller vessels in the 2,000-tonne range also appear to have been cancelled due to budget problems.
Since Taiwan’s acquisition of the Knox-class frigates, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has commissioned a number of heavy-class destroyers and frigates, both Russian-made or domestically produced. According to Jane’s Fighting Ships 2011-2012, by next year, the PLAN could have at least 28 destroyers and frigates with displacement of more than 3,000 tonnes, with possibly more in production.
While not all of the PLAN’s combat vessels are intended for a Taiwan contingency, the balance of power at sea in the Taiwan Strait continues to shift in China’s favor, especially if no way is found to replace vessels that are due for decommissioning.
Some navy analysts, including James Holmes of the US Naval War College, have argued that rather than embark on a tonne-for-tonne race with China, Taiwan should focus its efforts and finite budgets on developing fast-attack craft such as the 170-tonne Kuang Hua VI missile boat.
So far, 31 KH-6s, divided in three squadrons, have entered service.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying