The navy said yesterday that it is not interested in trying out new designs for eight diesel-powered submarines that the US has agreed to sell to Taiwan.
"The model we will choose has to be currently in use and built with mature technology. We do not want any new designs," said Rear Admiral Tung Hsiang-lung (
"We have yet to decide on the type of submarine we want. We have not excluded from our selection list any of the submarines that several European countries are promoting to us," Tung said.
Tung made the remarks yesterday at a Ministry of National Defense (MND) press conference in response to questions about discussions last week between the navy and a delegation from its US counterpart.
The navy sent a high-profile delegation, led by spokesman Vice Admiral Wang Chueh (王玨), to attend yesterday's press conference to elaborate regarding the ministry's position on the deal, which was made with the US in April last year.
These officials confirmed the talks with the US delegation, led by Gibson G. LeBoeuf, the deputy head of the US navy international programs department.
The US navy delegation comprised seven members from different departments, including a submarine acquisition office created especially for the submarine deal with Taiwan, the officials said.
The submarine negotiations were held between July 23-25 at the navy's headquarters in Taipei's Tachih district and focused on two topics: acquisition strategy and budget planning for the eight submarines; and operation principles for the acquisition of these submarines.
Conclusions reached at the talks included dividing the acquisition process into two stages: the pre-construction stage and the construction stage.
The pre-constructions stage will take an estimated to take one-and-a-half years. The navy has yet to work out a timetable for the construction stage.
"During the pre-construction stage, we will focus our efforts on selecting certain defense contractors [at home and abroad] as business partners. Our selection will be based on criteria such as the management teams that the contractors can offer. We also want to find out whether they can uphold our intellectual property rights and export-license requirements," Tung said.
Tung said that the state-run China Shipbuilding Corp (CSBC) had not been excluded from the list of defense contractors that the navy seeks to cooperate with.
"The navy strongly supports CSBC's bid to build part of the eight submarines, since it is the government's policy to promote the indigenous defense industry," he said.
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