In this year's arms talk between Taiwan and the US, Taiwan will be pushed by the US to buy high-tech weapons systems for which it did not plan initially, defense sources told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The high-tech weapons systems the US wants Taiwan to buy include the M1A2 main battle tank and the AH-64D Longbow attack helicopter.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Taipei Times it was untrue that the Taiwan army would take the initiative to request these two weapons systems.
The official was responding to a report by the Chinese-language United Daily News last week that the Taiwan army planned to put the M1A2 and AH-64D on its weapons purchase list for this year's Taiwan-US arms talks.
"The army did not plan to buy these two weapon systems at first. They wanted something else. Now they have no choice but to take the new offer," the official said.
Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Major General Huang Sui-sheng (黃穗生) yesterday declined to comment, saying it is the MND's policy not to speak out on weapons purchase matters.
"But we welcome any weapons sales which could help boost Taiwan's self-defense capabilities," Huang went on to say.
Eleven Jan, editor-in-chief of Defense Technology Monthly, said there are reasons for the US to want Taiwan to buy weapons systems which it does not desperately need.
"It is an open secret in the military. It is the US, not Taiwan, that takes the initiative on the matter. I personally do not think too much of the offer," Jan said.
"The US wants to sell us these state-of-the-art weapon systems mainly because the production line for these systems is at risk of being closed for lack of orders," Jan said.
"Just 500 units of the M1A2, for instance, have been ordered by the US army. The AH-64D attack helicopter is just too expensive. Israel has ordered only nine of the helicopters and it was charged US$500 million," Jan said.
"The US is now actively promoting sales of this helicopter to its diplomatic allies or friendly countries like Australia and Taiwan," he said.
"It looks like the army does not have too many choices. Frankly, this is not a good buy. The army should think carefully in the lead-up to the April arms talks between Taiwan and the US," he said.
It is rumored that the US plans to sell to Taiwan around 90 M1A2s as well as over 70 AH-64Ds. The M1A2s are to arm two tank battalions while the AH-64Ds are to equip three helicopter squadrons.
"If the army buys these two weapon systems in such quantities, it will be unable to get other items it needs more desperately," Jan said.
He said that an example of this would be that the planned purchase of 100 utility helicopters would almost certainly be put aside.
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