- TAIPEI: Taiwan is postponing purchases of US-made Black Hawk helicopters and Patriot air defense systems that are part of a $6.4 billion US weapons package that has been strongly opposed by China, officials said Tuesday.
A lawmaker said the delay was caused by budgetary shortfalls, while the Defense Ministry blamed it on manufacturing delays. Lin Yu-fang, a ruling Nationalist Party lawmaker on the legislature's defense committee, said the government is either delaying purchases of new items or postponing payments for existing programs because of the funding shortfall.
The procurement of six Patriot missile systems has been pushed back from 2014 to 2017 and 60 Black Hawk helicopters from 2016 to 2019 or 2020, he said.
