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US may buy military equipment from Taiwan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-01 10:03
The United States is considering purchasing military equipment from Taiwan as
the Pentagon seeks to reduce costs by diversifying its sources of arms
supplies, it was reported.
![This undated file photo released by the US Department of Defense shows the Pentagon in Washington. The United States is considering purchasing military equipment from Taiwan as the Pentagon seeks to reduce costs by diversifying its sources of arms supplies, it was reported. [AFP]](xin_230302011007953271085.jpg)
This undated file
photo released by the US Department of Defense shows the Pentagon in
Washington. The United States is considering purchasing military equipment
from Taiwan as the Pentagon seeks to reduce costs by diversifying its
sources of arms supplies, it was reported.
[AFP] | A group organized by the Comparative
Testing Office (CTO) of the US Department of Defense is scheduled to arrive in
Taipei Saturday to evaluate the island's capability of supplying the equipment,
the United Daily News said.
The trip will come as the US Department of Defense seeks to increase its
procurement of military equipment from Asia Pacific, where the manufacturing
cost is only one-third to one-fifth of that of the United States, it said.
The group, composing of five military officers and a civilian official, would
meet Taiwanese defense and economic officials and high-tech firms in a five-day
visit, the daily said, citing local defense soruces.
They would bring with them a shopping list of over 300 items, ranging from
aircraft components, ammunition, laptop computers to satellite telephones and
infrared equipment, it said.
The group is expected to submit a report to the Pentagon in June on the
outcome of their evaluation, it said.
In line with its usual practice, Taiwan's defense authorities declined to
comment on the report.
Washington last month denied reports that it was planning for the first time
to buy hundreds of millions of bullets from Taiwan as its supplies are running
low after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in
1979, but the United States has remained the leading arms supplier to the
island.
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