Taiwan Compromises on Arms Deal

Apparently in order to kick start the stalled deal with the US. This is from Taipei Times:

In a major defense policy shift, the government has decided to scrap the "special budget" mechanism to procure advanced arms from the US, and will instead ask for the military's annual budget to be increased to 3 percent of GDP.
"The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has proposed increasing the regular military budget to fund the purchase of eight diesel-electric submarines and 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft from the US, but will delay the proposal to buy three PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries," Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) told the legislature yesterday.

Sometimes its the only way to get things done. Still not clear who will buidl the diesel submarines. Be great if the US gets back into the conventional sub business, but unlikely.