Taiwan's navy will purchase up to 8 new submarines

Taiwan's navy will ask parliament to fund the purchase of up to eight new submarines within the next two months, reviving an acquisition that has been in limbo for over a decade, local media said on Monday.

The navy may not necessarily buy United States (US) technology and is looking at three different countries as potential suppliers, the United Daily News reported.

In April 2001 then US president George W. Bush approved the sale of eight conventional submarines as part of Washington's most comprehensive arms package to the island since 1992.

Since then, however, there has been little progress as the United States has not built conventional submarines for more than 40 years, and Germany and Spain had reportedly declined to offer their designs for fear of offending China.

Straitstimes