Taiwan "ready to buy 60 warplanes from the US"

May 11, 2008, 11:25 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan is ready to buy 60 F-16C/D warplanes from the United States and will pass the budget for the purchase as soon as Washignton approves the sale, a lawmaker said on Sunday.

Lin Yu-fang, a member of the parliament's defence committee, made the remark in response to a newspaper report that a US official will come to Taiwan later this month to persuade incoming President Ma Ying-jeou to approve the purchase.

Lin said the newspaper report is wrong because the parliament has already passed the budget for F-16C/Ds but later froze the budget 'to save face' as the US kept delaying the sale.

'So as soon as the US approves the sale, we will un-freeze the budget. This has nothing to do with wether Ma approves or disapproves the purchase,' he said.

'Actually, with the exception of the 8 submarines which are expensive, the parliament has approved making the budget for the other major arms purchases from the US,' he added.

Taiwan is seeking to buy 12 P3-C anti-submarine aircraft, 8 conventional submarines, 6 PAC-III anti-missile batteries and 60 F-16 C/D jets from the US.

The US has approved the sale of P3-Cs, subs and PAC-III anti- missile system, but has yet to approved the F-16C/D sale.

Taiwan bought 150 F-16A/Bs from the US in 1992, and is seeking to buy F-16C/D to upgrade its air defence against China.

On May 9, the Washington Times quoted an unnamed Pentagon source as saying the US Pacific Command wants to speed up the F-16C/D sale, but the State Department wants to postpone the sale until after the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics so as not to irritate China.

China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and is opposed to US arms sales to Taiwan.