Financially foundering China Shipbuilding Corp says it's capable of building eight diesel-powered submarines the US has agreed to sell to Taiwan.
China Shipbuilding has formed a special team to prepare for the order should it win the right to build the submarines, officials from the state-run firm said yesterday.
The team was formed shortly after the US announced in April its agreement to sell Taiwan the eight subs, China Shipbuilding officials said.
Yu Chen-nan (于辰南), chairman of the firm, said yesterday that China Shipbuilding has been assessed by foreign submarine experts, who report that the company is capable of building the subs.
"We are now preparing ourselves for the construction of diesel-powered submarines for the navy," Yu said.
"At the same time, the Ministry of National Defense is pushing the US to accept its request to have the eight diesel-powered submarines built in Taiwan."
Yu made the remarks yesterday while speaking at a conference on the building of military vessels, organized by the National Defense University's Chung Cheng Institute of Technology.
Because the US no longer has the capacity to build conventionally powered submarines, China Shipbuilding stands a good chance of winning the order, company officials said.
In addition, no other country with submarine-manufacturing capacity outside the US is willing to take the order for fear of angering China.
Voicing support for China Shipbuilding, Lieutenant-General Chang Shih-po (張十泊), head of the materials department for the defense ministry, said the ministry supports the company's efforts to win the contract.
"It is the government's policy to have military vessels -- including submarines -- built at home," Chang said.
"The defense ministry has signed a strategic alliance agreement with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to push for the order ... We're trying to overcome all kinds of obstacles that lay ahead of us."
Wang Kang-yi (王剛毅), a retired naval official who is currently a department chief with China Shipbuilding, presented a paper yesterday to explain his company's preparations for the construction of the subs.
"China Shipbuilding started collecting information on the construction of submarines 10 years ago," Wang said. "We have invited a number of submarine specialists from Germany and Holland to assess whether we have the ability to build submarines on our own."
Wang said the experts agree "that China Shipbuilding will be capable of building submarines, as long as it adds necessary facilities and acquires technical assistance from abroad."
Wang said preparations include establishing partnerships with China Shipbuilding's civilian counterparts, recruiting retired naval submariners as consultants and establishing a 40-man team to oversee the building of the submarines.
"We expect to get the deal sooner or later," Wang said. "As long as the US is willing to share with us its submarine-building technology, we believe the eight diesel-powered submarines can be built in Taiwan."
In August, the financially troubled firm agreed to halve its work force in return for NT$6 billion from the central government.
China Shipbuilding, which also makes commercial vessels, agreed to reduce its staff to 2,400 from 5,100 employees next year and cut the salary of remaining employees by 35 percent to stem losses.
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