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US Congressman Says Taiwan Needs US Built Subs
Taipei (AFP) Feb 20, 2006 Taiwan needs to purchase the eight submarines US President George W. Bush had previously promised to sell the island to counter rival China's looming military threat, a US congressman said Monday. US House of Representatives Rob Simmons said he will urge Taiwan's parliament to pass an arms bill to buy eight new diesel submarines, all of which could be built in a shipyard in his home state of Connecticut. "The Republic of China on Taiwan needs new submarines for the same reasons the United States does: to counter a growing Chinese naval threat," Simmons said in a statement released ahead of his three-day trip starting Monday. "Only submarines have the stealth, survivability and power projection that Taiwan ultimately needs to deter aggression in the Strait," he said. China currently has at least 800 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, and that number is increasing by 100 a year, Taiwan's defense ministry has said. Simmons will meet Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, Foreign Minister James Huang and other government and naval officials. Taiwan's opposition parties have blocked a 340-billion Taiwan dollar (10.6 billion US) arms-purchase package. The bill, proposed by the defense ministry, has yet to win approval by the procedure committee of the opposition-controlled parliament, a necessary step before it can be heard in the full house. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it is prepared to use force if the island declares formal independence. The two split in 1949 after a civil war. The United States remains the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite its switching of diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - China News from SinoDaily.com
China Facing A Rural Time Bomb
Washington (UPI) Feb 09, 2006A peasant "time bomb" threatens to stunt China's rise to global economic superiority unless immediate measures are taken to fix the problem, say experts. The Chinese state has lost much of its legitimacy with the country's rural majority, a turnaround that could have increasingly adverse effects on the long-term socio-economic development of the country, according to Joshua Muldavin, an Asian studies expert at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. |
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