The China Shipbuilding Corp (中船) is capable of building conventional submarines if the US is willing to provide the technological assistance and design blueprints, a spokesman for the state-owned firm said yesterday.
Company spokesman Fan Kuang-nan (范光男) was res-ponding to Defense Minister Tang Yao-ming's (湯曜明) remarks Wednesday. Tang said that he was concerned about the question of which party would be held responsible in the event of any mishap during the testing procedure, if the submarines were to be built by local contractors.
Fan said shipbuilding engineers and technicians from Germany and the Netherlands, both of which are noted for their submarine-construction technology and experience, have recognized China Shipbuilding's potential for building submarines on its own during previous visits to the firm.
"We believe that our company would be able to build conventional submarines as long as the US provided us with certain technological assistance and design blueprints," Fan said. "Of course, we would also need to purchase some new shipbuilding equipment and facilities," he added.
The US has agreed to sell Taiwan eight diesel-powered submarines.
The Legislative Yuan has passed a proposal to demand that the defense ministry push US authorities to assist the China Shipbuilding Co in building the first two submarines in Taiwan and then transfer the technical know-how for the company to build the remaining six submarines on its own.
During a meeting of the legislature's Defense Committee Wednesday, Tang said the military had invariably supported the policy of self-sufficiency in defense-related technological development.
Tang has promised that Taiwan's delegation to negotiate the submarine deal with the US will include staff members of China Shipbuilding.
Senior China Shipbuilding executives have paid visits to the legislature, the Ministry of National Defense and the Navy General Headquarters to seek their respective support for securing the submarine contract and the transfer of US technology.
China Shipbuilding's labor union has also been lobbying for legislative and military support for the company's drive to win the contract to build the submarines.
The US Defense Department received initial offers for Tai-wan's submarine deal from several defense contractors last November.
The Pentagon originally planned to send a delegation to Taipei in March this year to brief Taiwan officials on the submarine construction blueprints presented by prospective contractors, but the planned visit has since been delayed many times.
RSS