Defense ministry outlines new proposal on submarines

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 21, 2006. It reports that the Ministry of National Defense in Taiwan is proposing to purchase submarines from the United States.

According to the proposal, the purchase can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, the military will appropriate US$200 million as part of a supplementary budget, which will be used to cover bidding and developing a design for the submarines. The second stage will require the appropriation of another budget for the actual construction of the submarines.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, a single diesel-electric submarine produced in the United States can be acquired for approximately US$657 million. The figure is based on an independent price assessment for a 2,000-tonne vessel. If this figure is accurate, then it mean that eight submarines will cost a total of US$5.26 billion.

Officials from the Ministry of National Defense point out in their proposal that it is difficult to determine the final cost of procuring submarines until a design is chosen. They also note the difficulties of trying to procure submarines from another country due to Taiwan's relative diplomatic isolation.

So far, the opposition parties have blocked a special military budget proposal more than 45 times, despite the fact that it has undergone a series of price cuts and reconfigurations. The budget proposal includes the purchase of the submarines.