Tang refuses to confirm Aegis fighting ships deal

Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (--?/CHINESE>) yesterday declined to verify reports the US will sell four Aegis-class frigates to Taiwan, saying the government will not comment on any arms purchases before the two sides have struck a deal.

"Taiwan has an agreement with the US in respect to arms deals between the two. The agreement is that neither side will make public any arms purchase request from Taiwan before the request has been approved by the US government and Congress," Tang said.

Tang was responding to Saturday's announcement by National Security Council advisor Chen Pi-chao (3砲2照) that the US had agreed to the purchase of the US$1.5 billion frigates.

Tang's words suggested that the US government might already have agreed to sell four Aegis-class frigates to Taiwan, but that the request has yet to be reviewed and endorsed by the US Congress according to the normal procedure.

But whether Taiwan will buy the Aegis ships offered by the US, Tang said, has to be decided by public opinion.

"Whether our country will spend a huge amount of money to buy the four Aegis ships is yet to be decided by the legislature, which represents public opinion," Tang said.

Tang has made similar remarks about the controversial Theater Missile Defense (TMD) program, saying that whether Taiwan would join the US-proposed defense umbrella program would be left for the public to decide.

When Tang makes remarks of this kind, it indicates that he has doubts about -- or does not support -- the arms purchases he is discussing, military analysts said.

Doubts about purchasing wea-pons systems like TMD or Aegis ships center on the huge price tag and the cost-effectiveness of the deals, analysts said.

Aegis ships are closely connected to the TMD program, since they can be used as the naval operation platform for the national missile defense program being developed by the US for its own territory.

Aegis ships can greatly enhance the armed forces' anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability.

"The deployment of Aegis ships in the Taiwan Strait will move forward Taiwan's anti-aircraft radar capability by 70 nautical miles at least. It means a lot to Taiwan, which is desperate to get extra early warning time against air attacks from China," said Shih Hsiao-wei (施孝3), editor of Defense International magazine.

"Aegis ships can track over 100 targets and engage 10 of them at the same time at a range of 70km. By contrast, the Chengkung-class frigate, modeled on the Perry-class frigate of the US, can engage only one target at a time, at a range of 40km," Shih said.

Since each Aegis ship costs around US$1.5 billion, the price tag for four of the ships would be massive, analysts said.

The huge cost will add to the financial burden of the military, which has seen a fall in its budget in recent years. It has, however, been granted an increase of NT$40 billion in annual expenditures for the next fiscal year.