The Navy News website recently published an article about Taiwan’s self-built submarines. The article said that in early May, Taiwanese media reported that since Taiwan roughly controlled the new crown epidemic, more than 250 off-island consultants and engineers involved in Taiwan's self-built submarine project believe that staying in Taiwan is safer than going home. According to local media reports, the consultants and engineers are from the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea. South Korean media reports also said that South Korean engineers are participating in submarine development projects.
[Taiwan's "self-developed defense submarine" model]
The article stated that from 1949 to 1992, Taipei and South Korea maintained "diplomatic relations" and had a lot of cooperation during the Cold War period. Although Taipei has always had political ties with South Korea, there is not much public or official information about military interaction. The South Korean Navy Training Squadron visited Taiwan in 1972. A retired Taiwanese officer said the Taiwan Military Academy was training personnel from "friendly countries" in the 1980s, including some Koreans.
Another famous example is that in the 1980s, Taiwan had planned to purchase South Korean Ulsan-class frigates, but it was publicly strongly opposed by some leaders of the Taiwan military and Taiwanese society. Taiwan eventually purchased the Lafayette-class frigate from France.
South Korea terminated its diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1992 and required Taiwan's "embassy" personnel to leave within 24 hours and hand over the embassy property to the People's Republic of China.
[Keelung Shipyard]
Although the two sides have only unofficial relations since 1993, a document written by the South Korean representative office in Taipei in 2014 during a speech at a university in Taiwan showed that the representative office included some military liaison officers.
html In early July, Taiwanese media reported that all the equipment of Taiwan’s “self-developed submarine” (IDS) project has arrived in Taiwan, and the shipyard responsible for the construction of the submarine has been completed. All equipment will be installed before September. Equipment testing is expected to begin this month (September 2020).Long Chengwen, chairman of Taiwan's "China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation", said that four companies have arrived at the submarine industrial park of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Keelung Shipyard, two of which will build new factories. He also said the first off-island company will start manufacturing parts for the IDS project in July 2021.
The article said that Taiwan plans to start construction of a submarine prototype in November, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024, and is scheduled to be delivered to the Taiwan Navy for testing in 2025.
[Korea KSS-III Submarine]
The article said that South Korea currently has a local submarine project, that is, a 3,000-ton KSS-III submarine. South Korea also exports its own submarines to Indonesia. However, in terms of international relations, since South Korea needs to maintain good diplomatic relations with China, it is hard to imagine that South Korea's consultants or engineers can formally visit Taiwan to help the latter design submarines.
Nevertheless, it is possible for Koreans to participate in certain aspects of IDS projects such as project management, shipbuilding-related technologies, logistics management/planning, personnel education and training. So far, it is almost impossible to know from the official path whether such participation exists or not the specific degree of participation.
(Author: Kong Xin Copyright work Reproduction is prohibited without permission)
