TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 20 (UPI) -- Plans by Taiwan to build a 1,000-ton warship is just part of a strategy to make a new generation of low-observable surface combatant vessels designed, especially, to battle in the Taiwan Strait, officials said.
Defense News reported this week that Taiwan's Ministry of Defense confirmed a project to construct a fleet of a catamaran vessels called the Taiwan Coast Patrol Vessel.
The objective, the report said, quoting Fu S. Mei, director of the Taiwan Security Analysis, would be to "possibly create a family of twin-hulled, or even tri-hulled, multi-purpose surface combatant applications of various displacement sizes."
"The navy has a requirement of a 900-ton corvette," he said, explaining that such a vessel would help replace fast-track missile boats and a batch of frigates nearing retirement.
Earlier this month, military officials in Taipei unveiled images of the state-of-the-art corvette, seen as an attempt by Taiwan to match Chinese designs to acquire an aircraft carrier.
The vessel, dubbed by local media as a "carrier killer," will be capable of cruising up to 34 miles per hour and feature technologies to evade radar detection.
Beijing considers Taiwan a wayward province that must be returned to the fold. It has used a number of means, diplomatic and military, to deter other nations from officially recognizing Taiwan as an independent state.
Even so, relations between both sides have increasingly thawed, allowing Taiwan to pursue trade deals with other countries that have long been reluctant to antagonize Beijing.
Although the Taiwan Coastal Patrol Vessel is a project on the charts, no funding for its construction has been allocated. It would be built, however, by the naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung under the Swift Sea (Hsunhai) program, Defense News said.
The report was released as Chinese military war games in the South China Sea were about to kick off this week in a show of military might along with China's capabilities and emerging strategies.
"We've seen annual exercises at this time, but nothing at all like this," Gary Li, a Chinese military specialist at London's Institute of International and Strategic Studies told China's Zeenews. "We are seeing greatly improved co-ordination and communication and a great deal of flexibility."
The Taiwanese program had been scrapped and resurrected several times. This latest bid, Defense News reported, indicates designs by the country's navy to "float a balloon" to generate more interest and support for the program.
