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Taipei (AFP) Feb 9, 2010 Taiwan on Tuesday dismissed a report saying the island has dropped a request for US submarines, saying the vessels and fighter jets remained on the island's arms procurement agenda. "It is absolutely untrue," Taiwan's defence ministry spokesman Yu Sy-tue told AFP. "We hope the United States will provide submarines and F-16 C/Ds Taiwan has requested in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act," the spokesman said. Yu was reacting to a report which cited an unnamed military source as saying that the island was no longer asking for the submarines, because of rapidly improving ties between Taipei and Beijing. Jason Yuan, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington, said late January the United States was still considering whether to sell the submarines and F-16 fighter jets to the island despite the latest Beijing-Washington row over a 6.4-billion-dollar arms package. Washington last month announced the package for Taiwan included Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters, and communications equipment for Taiwan's F-16 fleet, but did not include the submarines and new fighter aircraft. Analysts have said they doubt Washington would risk angering Beijing by approving the more sensitive items, but Yuan said the United States had never ruled out selling the submarines and fighters to Taiwan. Beijing has reacted angrily to the arms deal, saying it would cut military and security contacts with the United States. Chinese defence ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said the reprisals reflected the "severe harm" posed by the deal with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway territory. Washington, which is required by the Taiwan Relations Act to supply Taiwan with sufficient weapons to defend itself, argues that the deal "contributes to maintaining security and stability across the Taiwan Strait".
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