Taiwan air force to get three helicopters from Europe

(TAIPEI) - Taiwan said Friday its air force would get three rescue helicopters from Airbus sister company Eurocopter, in a development observers warned could worsen Chinese anger over military sales to the island.

The EC225 long-range transport helicopters, with a total price tag of 110 million dollars, are scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan at the end of 2011 to join the air force's rescue team, said Yin Shih-hsien, an air force official.

"The newly acquired all-weather helicopters ... can greatly improve the ability of the air force to execute rescue missions at sea, on land and in the mountains, day and night," the air force said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid an ongoing row between China and the United States over a US decision to deliver a 6.4-billion-dollar arms package to the island, which Beijing claims as its territory.

However, the Chinese foreign affairs ministry in Beijing initially offered a measured response when asked for comment by AFP, saying merely it understood that the helicopters were intended for rescue missions.

"We will continue to watch this issue closely, in particular the use of these helicopters," ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in an official statement.

Taiwan has so far largely escaped becoming entangled in this row, as Beijing is eager to maintain friendly ties with the island's China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, but analysts now questioned if it could last.

"The helicopter sale could chill Taiwan-China ties as Beijing might suspect Ma of taking a tougher stance in his policy towards the mainland," said Hsu Yung-ming, a political scientist at Taipei's Soochow University.

Beijing has threatened to use force if Taiwan, which has ruled itself since 1949, declares formal independence, but ties have improved since Ma became president of Taiwan in 2008.

Eurocopter is a wholly owned subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the parent company of Airbus and one of the three largest aerospace groups in the world.

The firm's communications director Pierre Bayle told AFP that "the helicopters bought have no military specifications".

"They are used for civil rescue missions," he added.

Washington is the leading arms supplier to self-ruled Taiwan, even though it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, while Europe has played a much more low-profile role.

The helicopter deal marks only the third time Taiwan has acquired military equipment from Europe.

Taiwan in 1991 bought six Lafayette-class frigates from France for 2.8 billion dollars and acquired 60 Mirage-2000 fighter jets in 1992 for 3.8 billion dollars in deals that strained French-Sino ties at the time.

China reacted angrily then by closing the French consulate in the south Chinese city of Guangzhou and barring French companies from participating in a subway project in the same city.

However, observers doubted the Chinese response would be anywhere near that vehement over the sale of the rescue helicopters.

"The helicopter deal could further anger China because of the more sensitive timing after the US arms sales to Taiwan," said Kenneth Kaocheng Wang, a military expert at Tamkang University in Taipei.

"But China is unlikely to retaliate against Europe because the choppers are for rescue missions and the number is small," he said.