лъг белый Mr Daniel
På in dep
W. Europe
Laurie Bristow Esq
FED
FCO
RESTRIC
FET-C21/1
FET
Dear Lawie
TAIWAN
BRITISH EMBASSY
THE HAGUE
16 January 1992
No Bun
127212
し
The Curmese insight
است اسلان قاسم
the flovagheds with gui
Another pirveli mivutfecal with the the gonks Cylon 3)all heli Naica to cover its faced. If t suhanku salt and go ahead I am for The twink call cosmeticize of to devis ExÁFU eg uzending, we weregions systent syste
1. My letter of 8 October reported press speculation about the possible sale of submarines to Taiwan. It is now reported that a final decision on the contract will be made by the cabinet before the middle of March, with the balance of public speculation moving towards going ahead with the deal. Arguments in support of the contract include not only domestic employment, but also the fact that Taiwan remains a more important market for the Netherlands (Dutch imports from Taiwan are 35% more than from the PRC, exports are 300% greater) and doubts about whether it is now so necessary to defer to the wishes of a PRC regime which has forfeited much of its international authority and prestige following the events of Tienanmen Square, and which is no longer needed as a political counterweight to the Soviet Union. The PvdA, junior partner in the present government, has yet to take a definitive position. The employment opportunities coming from the order will weigh heavily in their decision, but Defence Minister ter Beek was a strong opponent of the earlier proposed sales when he was PvdA foreign affairs spokesman in the early 1980s.
2.
An article in the 11 January edition of the news- magazine Elsevier carried extensive comment from Taiwanese including Robert Tzeng (described as the publisher of the only two defence monthlies in Taiwan) and Dr C V Chen, legal adviser to the Taiwanese Ministry 02 Defence. The article gives the likely size of the order as Dfl 3 billion (approx 2 1/2 billion) for eight submarines.
the Dutch refuse to take the order Tseng claims it will go to Germany. Tzeng also claims that the
aiwanese had wanted to buy Dutch Kortenaer class
gates but were forced to buy French ships by an
er Dutch
maintain the agreement with
NCC
apply militar goods to Talwan. According
beng this problem could be circumvented either by delivering the submarines without weapons systems which would be mounted subsequently at the shipyard of China Shipbuilding Corporation, (although the Chinese might feel that the transfer of technology involved would be evenmore dangerous) or by delivery via a third party. Another opinion would be to build the submarines entirely in Taiwan using Dutch blueprints and technical support.
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REC