http://www.defencetalk.com/taiwan-in-talks-with-germany-over-four-subs-report-22472/

Taiwan in talks with Germany over four submarines: report
NAVY NEWS BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ON OCTOBER 8, 2009 AT 5:32 AM



Taipei: Taiwan is considering purchasing four German-built submarines that had been rejected by the Greek Navy, a report said Wednesday.

According to Next Magazine, Taiwan's military approached Kiel-based shipbuilder Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) for four Class 214s after Athens rejected them for not meeting standard requirements.

"The defence ministry has sent personnel to Germany, who have discussed a deal with the shipbuilder," the popular Taipei-based weekly said, citing an unnamed military source.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it was not aware of the report and would continue negotiations to buy submarines from the United States, the island's leading arms supplier.

Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a 1949 civil war, but Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade should the island declare formal independence.

Beijing has previously asked the United States to permanently end arm sales to Taiwan. Washington is the island's leading arms supplier, despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei
to Beijing in 1979.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who took over from independence-leaning Chen Shui-bian in 2008, had said the island needed to secure defensive weapons from the United States despite warming ties with China.

The Taiwanese navy currently operates a fleet of four submarines, but only two of them, Dutch-built, could be deployed in the event of war. The other two were built by the United States in the 1940s.

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dont think merkel would piss off china thhat much

China is bigger than Greece for sure but these subs are more meant for coastal defense than attack ofmainland Chinese targets.

Thunder Supports Rafale
http://rafale.freeforums.org
http://rafale.freeforums.org/rafale-vs-f-16-aerodynamics-compared-t69.html

You dont get everything going your way either even if you're big.

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"China is bigger than Greece for sure but these subs are more meant for coastal defense than attack ofmainland Chinese targets."

would be insane to attack 1.3bn people with a submarine wich is not even equipped with cruise missiles lol

anyways... the submarines would be perfect to counter a chinese invasion through sea, thats the only possible scenario

i don't think any taiwanese ever thought attacking to china but the distance between china and taiwan let 214s to be used for attack operations.

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Chile should go for 2 of them, in order to replace the 209s XD

I doubt whether even the Chinese would object to this sale. Taiwan and China will reunify eventually, it's just a matter of time. When they do it'd be great of they had another 4 high-tech subs to deploy.

Doubt this will happen, but it would be kind of a bad news for us if it did actually happen.

Someone is going to spill his guts to someone at just about the first opportunity about the operational capability of these submarines, and we operate three of them with 6 to follow. Perhaps a reconsideration of future ROK submarine program is in order.....

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Swiss Army Knives...up to a dozen tools, and the only thing you learn to use is the bottle and can opener.

It's like me, only prettier.