The US Congress supports Taiwan’s efforts to develop a home-grown capability to build the submarines it needs. That’s according to Chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs Ed Royce on Tuesday. Royce was attending an event on Capitol Hill where Taiwanese business leaders asked for support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Royce said the US Congress supports Taiwan’s ambition to either build its own submarines or purchase diesel electric submarines from other countries. He also said that Congress hopes the US government will pay more attention to Taiwan’s security needs.
In response to Royce’s comments, Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday thanked him for his support.
Taiwan’s defense ministry previously confirmed that it had launched a plan to build submarines domestically and hoped the US would transfer the necessary technology.
In April 2001, then US President George W. Bush decided to help Taiwan acquire eight diesel electric submarines, but there has been little progress on the initiative.