Expert suggests Taiwan acquire 16, not 8, subs

[dArKeR]

The United States agreed in April 2001 to sell Taiwan eight conventional submarines. But having not built diesel-electric submarines in over 40 years, the United States has had trouble offering Taiwan a package it finds acceptable.

The Ministry of National Defense has now proposed a "2+2+2+2" plan that would gradually assign production of the submarines to Taiwan's China Shipbuilding Corporation.

Song Jaw-wen, a military strategy analyst who was invited by local TV stations during the war in Iraq to provide commentary, discussed the importance of the submarines to Taiwan's defense and issues the country should consider in procuring them in a recent interview with reporter Taijing Wu.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2003/11/17/1069039982.htm