ANOTHER row with China over western military hardware is looming after self-ruled Taiwan said yesterday it would buy up to 20 military helicopters from European manufacturer Eurocopter, less than a week after Washington proposed a €4.7 billion arms deal with the island.
Taiwan will buy search and rescue helicopters, defence ministry spokesman Martin Yu said. The Taiwan deal with Eurocopter, a subsidiary of the German-based company EADS, could put additional strain on China-European relations which have been affected by the same trade disputes, rows over human rights issues and Chinese currency squabbles that have blighted Sino-US relations.
China was furious over the US decision to approve the arms deal with Taiwan, and it comes amid increasingly difficult relations between the superpowers.
Taiwan uses heavy investment in state-of-the-art military technology to leverage its defensive position in the face of China’s overwhelming manpower advantage.
China sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be taken back by force if necessary. It has claimed complete sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist KMT fled to Taiwan.