Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) yesterday said Taiwan will buy four Kidd-class destroyers because the US won't be able to sell Aegis-class destroyers to Taiwan within ten years.
"The arrangement has been made for the security of the country. It is really necessary for the navy to buy the Kidds [as stopgaps for the Aegis ships]," Tang said.
Tang made the remarks at a meeting of the defense committee of the legislature in response to inquiries from PFP lawmaker and retired Admiral Nelson Ku (
Ku, one of the lawmakers opposed to the purchase of the four Kidds, once again expressed his doubts about whether the military has made the right choice to buy the Kidds.
Ku, who has been urging the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to insist on buying the Aegis ships instead of the Kidds, encouraged Tang to continue efforts to buy the Aegis ships.
In reply, Tang said: "The MND chooses to buy the Kidds because the US has no Aegis ships to sell Taiwan within ten years."
Ku did not think that this was a real problem. He said Taiwan should be able to get the Aegis ships much sooner.
"According to my understanding, the US will not sell brand new Aegis ships to Taiwan. They will sell us only ships which have been in service for some years," Ku said.
"Under the circumstances, Taiwan does not need to wait ten years to get the Aegis ships."
Ku also said he "knows" the MND agreed to buy the Kidds in exchange for the US' promise to acquire eight diesel-powered submarines for Taiwan.
Tang did not respond to Ku's statements, causing confusion about whether he agreed or disagreed with what Ku had said.
A naval official who was present at the meeting said the issue is not about whether the US will sell Taiwan new Aegis ships, but about how much money Taiwan can spend to buy the Aegis ships.
"If we insist on buying new Aegis ships, the costs will surely be much higher. It is not fair to say that the US will consider selling only second-hand Aegis ships to Taiwan," the official said.
As to the secret deal alleged by Ku, the official said: "It does not make sense that we will put the four Kidds, worth tens of billions of NT dollars, on an equal standing with eight diesel-powered submarines, worth hundreds of billions of NT dollars."
Underlying all these arguments is one simple fact: the navy will spend tens of billions of NT dollars to buy four decommissioned Kidd-class destroyers that are considered by many lawmakers to be not worth the money.
In an attempt to clear all the lawmakers' doubts about the Kidds, the MND will hold a special meeting at the legislature on Oct. 16, where defense officials will answer lawmakers' questions regarding the deal, Tang said.
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