Taiwan weapons bill goes from NT$610 billion to NT$6.3 billion

D

Deleted member 675

Guest
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


The Cabinet yesterday proposed a new weapons procurement budget totaling NT$6.3 billion (US$197 million).

"We made some changes in response to lawmakers' and the public's requests. We also hope that the Ministry of National Defense will continue to negotiate with lawmakers and try to approve this new proposal as soon as possible," Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said during a press conference shortly after the weekly Cabinet meeting.

A special arms procurement budget worth NT$610.8 billion -- including 384 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, 12 P-3C maritime patrol aircraft and eight diesel power submarines -- was proposed two years ago but has been stalled in the legislature. Opposition lawmakers complained that the weaponry cost too much.

The ministry tried to get the budget passed by amending its proposal three times -- reducing the request to NT$590 billion, then NT$480 billion and now NT$6.3 billion. However, Cheng said the NT$6.3 billion request will not just pay for new weapons. In the new proposal, the plan to buy eight submarines has become "the evaluation to buy diesel submarines;" the plan to buy PAC-3 missiles has become "the upgrade of the remaining PAC-2 system." The plan to buy the P-3C aircraft remains as it was in the original.

The revised budget would also cover the cost of building a runway on Taiping Island (太平島), the southernmost point of Taiwan's territory.

Cheng said Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was present at the Cabinet meeting and was asked by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to comment on the revised proposal.

Ma "did not make any comment during the meeting," Cheng said. Cheng said the country needed to be able to defend itself to make sure that its 23 million citizens were secure. "It is our hope that the legislature would see and comprehend the efforts that we have made here and help us on this one," he said.
Click to expand...

I thought this might be news-worthy, as they've really cut the budget down. I suppose upgrading PAC-2 batteries to PAC-3 standard is more cost-effective than getting new ones, though of course the exact details of that aren't explained here.

Any thoughts?
 
S

sino52C

New Member
Why, of course,

Taiwan does not have the money to sustain its military budget. 6 billion still seems a bit much though.
 
The_Zergling

The_Zergling

Junior Member
sino52C said:
Why, of course,

Taiwan does not have the money to sustain its military budget. 6 billion still seems a bit much though.
Click to expand...

You do realize that 6 billion NT is about how much it would cost to buy 4 F-15s?

I'm not exactly sure how the submarine deal will work out under this new arms budget. However, seeing as Taiwan will still be getting the P-3s, plus a new runway as well as a PAC-2 upgrade with this new DRASTICALLY reduced budget, I'd say it's definitely a good (if very odd) deal, and not one I would have expected the US to agree to.
 
D

Deleted member 675

Guest
The_Zergling said:
I'm not exactly sure how the submarine deal will work out under this new arms budget.
Click to expand...

They put some money up for sorting out the design. Then when there's a workable deal on the table, with a final price, etc, they can decide whether to go ahead with it or not.

sino52C, US$ = NT$32

Taiwan can afford to spend more on defence - currently it's only about 2.6% of GDP.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Finn McCool

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
God, that's a huge cut. 590 billion to 6.3 billion. Is that right? Taiwan can't do much with 190 million dollars, or however much that is in US $. If I were them I would spend it on something boring but necessary, like motor transport, since you can't get much advanced weaponry with 190 Million.
 
K

kovona

New Member
New here so excuse me if I am wrong. Didn't the UN put a international arms trade ban in effect awhile back? So these new aircraft must be of course of Taiwan origin?
 
The_Zergling

The_Zergling

Junior Member
I don't know of any UN ban of weapon sales to Taiwan, the closest thing there is to something of that regard is China's "discouraging" of any countries selling weaponary to Taiwan.

P-3s are made by the US...

Frankly I still think something's very odd about this. Like Finn McCool stated, it's WAY too big of a price cut, I just find it very hard to believe the US would sell all of this stuff to Taiwan for that kind of price. Just the 12 P-3s would normally sell for more than 197 million USD, in my opinion.
 
K

kovona

New Member
Well, it could be possible that Taiwan can get a discount perhaps, seeing how its American interest to keep Taiwan defended against PRC. Perhaps second hand P-3s?
 
S

Snaykew

New Member
Registered Member
The_Zergling said:
I don't know of any UN ban of weapon sales to Taiwan, the closest thing there is to something of that regard is China's "discouraging" of any countries selling weaponary to Taiwan.

P-3s are made by the US...

Frankly I still think something's very odd about this. Like Finn McCool stated, it's WAY too big of a price cut, I just find it very hard to believe the US would sell all of this stuff to Taiwan for that kind of price. Just the 12 P-3s would normally sell for more than 197 million USD, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

The US agreed with the PRC that Taiwan couldn't purchase military hardware from the US up to a certain value. But they didn't mention that the US could severely undercut the prices on it. So basically the US are selling their equipement to Taiwan for way way way cheap.

Concerning the arms embargo, thats with the EU and the US concerning highly sensative military technology and hardware being sold to the PRC, which was a response to the Tiananmen Square incident. Although other nations are not in the embargo, the US "encourages" them not to sell any to PRC.

Israel is an example of US pressure being applied to them. They've tried to sell China military technology or hardware and then were forced to change its decision.

I don't think the UN can order specifically an arms embargo, but they can do economic sanctions which is just as effective. Although with Iraq, France and Russia decided they could do it covertly. :p
 
D

Deleted member 675

Guest
Snaykew said:
The US agreed with the PRC that Taiwan couldn't purchase military hardware from the US up to a certain value. But they didn't mention that the US could severely undercut the prices on it. So basically the US are selling their equipement to Taiwan for way way way cheap.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where you got your information from, but the US didn't say it wouldn't sell stuff to Taiwan based on price. If there was any agreement, it was that it wouldn't sell offensive technology or weapons, like cruise missiles.

The US actually was selling its items for more than it usually would before, as Taiwan had few alternative sources. That said it may be that it has decided it's better to be more flexible with price than it used to be. As kovona said, these may well be second-hand Orions. But personally, if I was the US, I'd sell them the stuff they wanted with only a minimal amount of profit. It is in the US' best interests that Taiwan is able to hold of the Chinese armed forces as long as possible.

The PAC-3 batteries will have to be bought later, due to the Pan-Blues' objection to the sale. That might go through next year in the ordinary budget, depending on how things are working out in the Legislative Yuan. And the final price of the submarines may still be very high.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top