Tue, Mar 21, 2006 page3

• Defense ministry outlines new proposal on submarines

  STALLED PURCHASE The ministry wants to break the budget into two parts, with the first part used to design the subs and the second part funding their construction

  • By Mac William Bishop / STAFF REPORTER
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  The military is trying to move forward a proposal to purchase submarines from the US by endorsing a deal that could placate opposition lawmakers, who have criticized the subs as overly expensive.

  In a special report released yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense threw its weight behind a proposal championed by US Representative Rob Simmons, who recently traveled to Taiwan seeking to help overcome the impasse.

  During a Congressional hearing last week, the Connecticut Republican made no secret of the fact that one of his ultimate goals was to try to find work for his constituency, which includes the shipbuilding firm Electric Boat.

  "In my recent visit to Taiwan, they indicated that they were balking at the sale price of US$12 billion, without knowing what they looked like, what they were designed to do and what in fact the Taiwanese were getting for that sale price," Simmons told a House Armed Services naval subcommittee on Thursday.

  "And I suggested breaking the project out into pieces, most specifically, US$225 million for complete design, conceptual through final detail design, at which point the decision could be made as to whether to proceed with production," Simmons said.

  The proposal outlined by the ministry yesterday would break the purchase into two stages. In the first stage, the ministry said it would appropriate US$200 million as part of a supplementary budget. This budget would be used to cover bidding and developing a design for the submarines.

  The second stage would require appropriating a budget for the actual construction of the submarines.

  According to figures released by the ministry, a single diesel-electric submarine produced in the US could be acquired for approximately US$657 million.

  It said this figure was based on an independent price assessment for a 2,000-tonne vessel. If this figure were accurate, it would mean that eight subs would cost a total of US$5.26 billion.

  The assessment was contained in a report on arms purchases and a review on current military combat readiness, which was delivered to the Legislative Yuan's National Defense Committee.

  The ministry's report said that because the US has not built conventionally powered submarines for several years, it was difficult to determine the final cost of procuring submarines until a design had been decided upon.

  It also noted the difficulties of trying to procure submarines from another country, given Taiwan's relative diplomatic isolation.

  However, the support of the military does not guarantee that the sub deal will move forward. The opposition parties have blocked a special military budget proposal that included the submarines more than 45 times, despite it having undergone a series of price cuts and reconfigurations.

  The US Navy has also been reported as opposing the submarine deal, but Rear Admiral Joseph Walsh, the US Navy's director of submarine warfare, tried to put these fears to rest when confronted by Simmons.

  "The officials I talked to in Taiwan, from President Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁] on down to Defense Minister Lee Jye [李傑], who happens to be a submariner, have all said the [US] Navy has been dragging its feet on that," Simmons said. "Is that correct? Has the navy been dragging its feet on that project, and would the navy support a breakout of the design work for an FMS [foreign military sale]?"

  "Sir, to answer your question, no, the navy has not been dragging its feet on the procurement of eight diesel submarines by Taiwan. We in the navy support the president's initiative to sell eight diesel submarines to Taiwan," Walsh replied, later adding, "Whether Taiwan would actually want to do that [agree to breaking up the deal] and do a two-step process obviously is up to the people of Taiwan to decide."

  "I thank you for that answer. [Taiwan] would prefer that," Simmons said. "Just the way members of this subcommittee, members of our Congress, like to see what we're buying with the taxpayers' dollars, [Taiwanese lawmakers] like to see what they're buying with their taxpayers' dollars."
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