Thailand considers buying destroyers after Chinese submarine contract problems

Thái Lan tính mua tàu khu trục sau trục trặc hợp đồng tàu ngầm Trung Quốc - 1 — Model of S-26T submarine (Photo: SCMP).

“We have proposed to China and they are considering it,” Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang told local media on October 24.

Mr Sutin said the new plan would be discussed further next month.

According to the Thai government, they made the proposal during Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's visit to Beijing to attend the Belt and Road Summit last week.

In 2017, Thailand signed a deal to buy the first of three German-made Yuan S26T diesel-powered submarines for 13.5 billion baht ($373.55 million). So far, Thailand has paid China 7 billion baht in installments for the submarine.

The order for the remaining two submarines was approved by parliament in 2020 at a cost of 22.5 billion baht.

However, the submarine deal was delayed after Germany banned the use of its engines in military exports to China.

China has proposed replacing German engines with Chinese-made equipment, but several rounds of negotiations have yielded no results.

The defence minister said last week that submarine procurement would be paused and would resume “when the country is ready”.

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