No progress has been made by Taiwan in seeking cooperation from US firms to jointly build submarines, but there are other options for partners to build the vessels, CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the local shipbuilder commissioned to plan and design the submarines said on Monday.
It had been reported that Raytheon Co, a major US defense contractor and industrial corporation that focuses on manufacturing military and commercial electronics and weapons, would partner with CSBC to build the submarines.
However, CSBC said there has been no progress toward any partnership between it and a US firm, declining to divulge which it plans to partner with.
The shipbuilder said that after it won a design contract for the first of a new class of domestic diesel-electric submarines last year, it began to devise plans to fulfill the project, including starting talks with US companies over possible cooperation.
However, the planned team-up with a US company was shelved in December last year before then-US president Barack Obama stepped down in January.
The US government said at the time that all arms sale deals and technical cooperation projects would be left to Obama’s successor to decide, CSBC said.
After US President Donald Trump took office in January, he put the projects on hold and no progress has yet been made, it said.
CSBC has many alternatives to partnering with a US firm and plans to push ahead with its indigenous shipbuilding project, the company said.
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