Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian will show members of the press around the island's two antiquated submarines tomorrow to help the media better appreciate the navy's combat-readiness, his spokesman said. 'It has nothing to do with the government's plan to buy new submarines,' said Presidential Office spokesman Chen Wen-tsung. But that was not how the opposition saw it. Kuomintang lawmaker Chiang Yi-wen accused Mr Chen of using the tour of the submarines, built in the Netherlands more than 50 years ago, to promote a controversial NT$610 billion (HK$141 billion) arms purchase from the US. She said that Mr Chen was 'deliberately letting the media see the obsolete submarines in a bid to justify the government's plan to spend big money to buy new submarines'. Meanwhile, Taiwan and the US appeared close to settling on the price tag for the arms deal, with Washington agreeing to quote a lower price. Taiwan's defence ministry said the US had committed itself to send a new quotation within three weeks for the eight conventional submarines Taipei plans to buy. Military experts and opposition lawmakers have said the NT$410 billion price tag for the eight diesel-electric vessels was too high. Opposition lawmakers say they will boycott meetings to consider the NT$610 billion defence spending bill if ministers insist on pushing the deal. The legislature is expected to hold an extraordinary session in mid-August to review the government's NT$500 billion infrastructure programme.
