A Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said that, as China is continually building its advanced submarine force, Taiwan should swiftly establish a submarine force to deter and neutralize a possible submarine blockade by China.
Armed forces reserve commander Lieutenant General Chen Ti-tuan (陳體端), the former MND vice minister in charge of the NT$610.8 military procurement package from the US, told the Taipei Times that many people mistakenly thought that a submarine force was expensive and less useful for Taiwan's security, but he considered submarines the most useful strategic offensive weapons to deter and neutralize a submarine blockade from China.
As China is expected to release its annual military budget in the upcoming National People's Congress and is expected to maintain the huge spending it has for over a decade, and as China just publicized a live-fire submarine drill on its state-run TV station, Chen yesterday urged that a submarine force should be established swiftly.
Chen said the US agreed to sell Taiwan eight diesel submarines in 2001 after several years' lobbying, despite the fact that the US saw submarines as strategic offensive weapons while US policy is to sell Taiwan defensive weapons.
It was a shame that procurement of the eight submarines as part of the NT$610.8 billion arms budget have been blocked in the legislature, he said.
"Many people mistakenly think that a submarine force is there to confront a rival's submarine force. So now they want to know how Taiwan could confront China's force of over 80 submarines if we have only eight or 10 submarines," Chen said.
"However, submarines are not to counter a rival submarine force, but to blockade your rivals," he said. For instance, if China used submarines to blockade Taiwan's major seaports, Taiwan's submarines could counter-blockade Chinese ports or sea lanes. Thus, the capability to counter-blockade China would increase that country's costs when starting a war with Taiwan, and therefore would efficiently deter China from using military action against Taiwan, he said.
Chen said one of the strengths of submarines was that they were very hard to detect in deep waters. If Taiwan spent NT$400 billion to acquire eight submarines, China would have to spend seven times that amount, or about NT$2,800 billion, on anti-submarine warfare to counter the force.
Therefore, a Taiwanese submarine force would place a heavy burden on Chinese military expenditures and slow its military buildup, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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