KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a years-long project aimed at strengthening the island's defence and deterrence against the Chinese navy.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.
"In the past, a domestically developed submarine was considered an impossible task.
The programme has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries - a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan.
Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two such domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, the head of the program said this month.
Persons:
Tsai Ing, Tsai, Lockheed Martin, Admiral Huang Shu, Carlos Garcia, Walid Berrazeg, Sarah Wu, Ben Blanchard
Organizations:
Lockheed, Lockheed Martin Corp, Thomson
Locations:
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan, China, Beijing, Kaohsiung