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Taiwan: Debate rages over destroyer
deal
By David Isenberg
Despite criticism, the Taiwanese navy is pushing
for the acquisition of four second-hand US Kidd-class
guided-missile destroyers, saying the warships are a
priority, given rival China's rapid naval buildup.
The Kidd-class destroyers were part of the large
arms package to Taiwan announced by US President George
W Bush in April last year. They were originally built
for but never delivered to Iran after the 1979 overthrow
of the late Shah. The four destroyers joined the US Navy
in 1981 and 1982 and were decommissioned in 1998 and
1999 after only half their service life. Since then they
have been in mothballs.
The debate is
intensifying since Taiwan has just launched the last of
eight "Tien Tan" guided-missile frigates, modeled on the
US Perry-class frigate, as part of the navy's "Kwanghua
1 Project", and the government is still mulling whether
to invest in a further upgrade of its naval forces.
The navy says it badly needs the 9,500-ton
Kidd-class destroyers to replace seven Gearing-class
destroyers built more than 50 years ago.
Defense
Minister Tang Yao-ming said the military balance between
Taiwan and China will begin to tip in favor of Beijing
in 2005, particularly with regards to naval forces,
given the continued arms buildup by the People's
Liberation Army. "Taiwan needs a naval fleet capable of
engaging in long-distance warfare, armed with air
defense and anti-submarine capability," Tang said
recently during a rare public hearing of the
parliament's defense committee.
Taiwan's
preferred choice is Aegis-class destroyers, but since
the United States will not agree to sell those ships,
the Kidd-class destroyers are the only option at the
moment.
The Kidds would be armed with Standard
II-3A surface-to-air missiles, which have a range of 166
kilometers (90 nautical miles) and vastly outperform the
Standard I missiles now being installed on Taiwan's
Perry-class frigates. The Kidd destroyer can engage six
aircraft simultaneously with the missiles.
In a
report in 2000 on the Taiwanese navy's fighting
capability, the US Navy recommended that Taiwan purchase
four Kidd guided-missile destroyers to enhance its
navy's combat capability in a short time.
According to a Ministry of National Defense
(MND) evaluation report, the first of the four vessels
can be delivered to Taiwan within three years of the
deal's conclusion. The first two Kidd-class destroyers
would be expected to enter service by 2005 at the
earliest, the navy estimates.
The arms deal
would cost NT$28.4 billion (US$785 million).
In
a briefing last Wednesday, according to a report in
Taiwan News, the Ministry of National Defense made
public classified information detailing a computer
simulation of a military assault by China on Taiwan.
According to the MND, the computer simulation showed
that a Kidd destroyer would be capable of intercepting
nine missiles while the Chengkung-class frigate (the US
Perry-class frigate) would only intercept one missile in
the scenario.
Several navy generals also assured
lawmakers that the maintenance of a Kidd-class destroyer
would not be a problem since the parts for the destroyer
are the same as parts for other vessels that the navy
already owns.
Recently Defense Minister Tang
Yiau-ming led dozens of generals in a public discussion
on the purchase of Kidd-class destroyers, explaining the
reasons and necessity for this procurement. Other
supporters of the Kidd purchase include Rear Admiral
Tung Hsiang-lung, chief of the navy's bureau of plans,
Tung's predecessor Vice Admiral Kung Chia-cheng, who is
currently chief of staff at the logistics command
center, retired army general Shui Hua-ming, and retired
navy admiral Lan Lin-li.
However, the ministry's
briefing did little to convince lawmakers who already
opposed the arms purchasing.
While some in
Taiwan agree on the need to modernize its naval forces
further, they disagree on the need for the Kidds. People
First Party (PFP) legislator Nelson Ku, a former navy
commander-in-chief and vice minister of the Ministry of
National Defense, expressed his strong disapproval of
this procurement and insisted that Taiwan should insist
on buying the Aegis destroyer instead.
Critics
have expressed concern that the second-hand warships
would prove a financial "bottomless pit" and that the
9,000-ton warships would be easy targets for any Chinese
attack in case of war.
Chin Hui-chu,
parliamentarian from the opposition PFP, questioned the
wisdom of the planned arms deal after a computerized
mock war game between Taiwan and a rival, conducted as
part of the "Han Kuang (Han Glory) 18" military
exercises, ended with the destruction of the four
Kidd-class destroyers. Critics have also pointed out
that the destroyers are too large for any existing
military bases.
To solve that problem the navy
plans to rent a dock in Kaohsiung harbor. The
dock-rental plan is expected to save operational costs
because it is relatively cheap to rent a dock in
Kaohsiung harbor on a long-term basis. However, the navy
has not given up its initial plan to build a new dock in
Kaohsiung's Tsoying military port for the Kidds.
Opposition lawmakers have also voiced concerns
that the cost of maintenance and upkeep of the
20-year-old vessels would make them more costly than
they would be worth.
Only four Kidd-class
destroyers were made and critics of the purchase have
claimed that Taiwan would end up being completely
reliant on the United States for any repairs.
In
response to the charge that the destroyers would be
expensive to maintain, the navy said it would only spend
NT$1.65 billion a year on the four destroyers. That
compares with the NT$1.9 billion annual bill for
maintaining its current fleet of seven Gearing-class
destroyers built in the 1940s, which would be retired
once the Kidd-class vessels arrived.
The deal is
still pending the parliament's final approval. But in
the meantime at least some people are assuming the
purchase will be approved. A report in the Taipei Times
noted that the US military will establish a front
company in Taipei by the end of this year to prepare for
maintaining the Kidd-class destroyers. The company,
which will be located in Taipei county's Yungho
township, will comprise active-duty and retired US
military officials, mostly specialists in the field.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights
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