Taiwan may cancel its plan to acquire anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the United States because the price was “too high,” its defense minister said Thursday.
Defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told parliament that the deal to buy 12 MH-60R anti-submarine helicopters is likely to be terminated because the cost was “beyond our capability,” Focus Taiwan reported.
Taiwan initially allotted NT$34 billion ($1.15 billion) for the chopper deal, but according to local media reports a Taiwanese defense expert in February said that Washington had rejected the sale, saying it was incompatible with the island’s “principle of asymmetric combat power.”
Delayed Stingers
Chiu said that Taiwan has paid for two additional arms purchases—namely the M109A6 medium self-propelled Howitzer artillery systems and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles—and pressed the United States to deliver them expeditiously.
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