Three frigates for Taiwan Navy

TAIWAN yesterday commissioned three Knox-class anti-submarine frigates leased from the United States, just days after President Lee Teng-hui vowed to build defence power to 'terrify and stop' any attack by China.

'This enables the Navy of the Republic of China to continue strengthening our country's defensive power on the sea and will definitely help the stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region,' Navy commander-in-charge Admiral Ku Chung-lien said.

The ships, armed with missiles and other sophisticated weapons, would cruise the Taiwan Strait, said the admiral at the commissioning ceremony at the northeastern port of Suao.

He thanked the US 'for its support on the lease project'.

Taiwan and the US signed the contract in June last year. Taipei would pay an average of NT$2 billion (HK$578 million) every year for each frigate, a Navy statement said.

'The current priority in our defence construction is to build up the defensive power which can effectively terrify and stop them and make communist China understand that to use force against Taiwan will mean a possible sacrifice,' Mr Lee said in his annual State of the Nation address to the National Assembly.

The frigates - Lan Yang, Hai Yang and Huai Yang - bring the number of Knox-class vessels Taiwan has leased from the US to six.