“Germany and Spain, two of the world’s few submarine exporting countries, have also declined to supply Taiwan in what commentators interpret as fear of offending China.”
That’s a shame, as from what I’ve read, Germany makes some of the best D-E boats in the world. They could really boost Taiwan’s submarine fleet. Not sure about Spanish designs, though I would think most any modern design would be better than a 1940’s era sub.
Maybe they could buy some used Kilo’s from the Russians?
Any Kilos from Russia would be very used and probably neglected for the past 25 years.
Maybe they could get Japan to sell them some subs, I have read that Japan is making some really good subs..............again.
Yes and maybe some hazmat/nuc suits.
The Russians are still building Kilos for themselves and Vietnam and probably Venezuela, so they won’t be rust-buckets.
However, the largest export user of the Kilo is China (about 12 boats) and Russia wants to sell more toys to Beijing, so a sale to Taiwan is a non-starter.