Thailand approves China sub purchase
Print Edition
THAILAND’S Cabinet has approved the first of three planned submarine purchases from China worth US$393 million, a government spokesman said yesterday.
The plan to buy the three Chinese-built submarines worth 36 billion baht (US$1.05 billion) was confirmed in July, signaling warming ties since relations with the United States cooled after a May 2014 military coup.
“The Cabinet approved one submarine purchase on April 18,” spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters, adding that a budget of 13.5 billion baht (US$393 million) has been earmarked for the Yuan Class S26T submarine over a six-year period.
The media were not told about the purchase following a meeting last week because it was a matter of national security, he added.
Navy spokesman Admiral Jumpol Loompikanon said the Thai navy owned four Japanese submarines nearly 60 years ago, so new submarines were necessary to protect maritime interests.
“Thai people can rest assured that the navy’s submarine spending will be worth it and beneficial to Thailand,” Jumpol told reporters.
Thailand’s navy chief, Admiral Na Arreenich, will visit China soon to finalize the purchase, a source at the defence ministry said.
Maritime security is a hot issue in Southeast Asia, given competing claims over the South China Sea, but Thailand is not a claimant in that dispute.
Thailand’s defense budget this year is more than 210 billion baht, about 9 percent more than the year the military took power.
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