Taipei - Taiwan is seeking to buy at least six Aegis-equipped destroyers from the United States in a plan almost certain to anger China, local news media reported Monday. Deputy Defence Minister Ko Cheng-heng and Chief of the General Staff Chen Yung-kang will leave for the US later this month to try to strike a deal for the purchase of the sophisticated weapons used to intercept any incoming missiles from rival China, the Taipei-based leading daily, United Daily News, said, quoting an unnamed military source.
The potential deal is expected to cost the island 4.6 billion US dollars, which the Defence Ministry would try to list in next fiscal year's defence budget, the paper said.
It added Taiwan's plan to increase its defence budget to 3 per cent of the gross domestic product from around 2.4 per cent at the suggestion of the United State should allow the military to obtain the funding for the anti-missile systems.
Washington, the island's informal ally and biggest arms supplier, has advised Taiwan to increase its defence spending in the wake of rapid military buildup of China, a rival of Taiwan since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
Washington's approval for a massive arms package in 2001 to supply six Patriot PAC-III anti-missile batteries, eight conventional submarines, and 12 P-3C submarine hunting aircrafts to the island had triggered a strong protest from Beijing, which has viewed Taiwan as a Chinese territory which it must retake, if necessary by force.
The Defence Ministry in Taiwan, however, declined to comment on the report, but the reported deal is expected to draw another loud protest from China if it goes through.
