Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Sunday that it is still seeking to acquire submarines from the United States and denied a report that Germany is offering to sell Taiwan the vessels.
In its latest issue, the Chinese-language weekly Yazhou Zhoukan reported that Germany is offering to sell Taiwan Type 214 submarines that were originally ordered by Greece. Due to the debt crisis there, Greece is now unable to pay for the arms deal, according to the report.
The MND, however, dismissed the report as "pure media speculation" and said that it "has never heard any such information."
The ministry said it will continue to seek diesel-electric submarines from the U.S.
In 2001, the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush offered to provide eight of the subs, which the U.S. no longer manufactured. However, no significant progress in the sale has been made to date.
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