Malaysia to buy first submarines

Malaysia to buy first submarines

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia said on Sunday it would go
ahead with plans to buy its first submarines in a move diplomats
said could unsettle its Southeast Asian neighbors and lead to an
arms race in the region.

Defense minister Najib Razak said the submarines, first
proposed a decade ago, were necessary to help boost the country's
defense capabilities, the national Bernama news agency said.

The armed forces would acquire high technology and
sophisticated weaponry to "deter threats from external elements",
Bernama said. It was not clear from which country the submarines
were to be bought.

Diplomats say the Malaysian move could lead to an arms race in
the region. An Asian diplomat said the move seemed to be in
direct response to neighboring Singapore's purchase of four
second-hand Sjoormen-class submarines from Sweden.

Malaysia, along with Brunei, China, the Philippines, Taiwan
and Vietnam, is locked in a territorial dispute over the
Spratlys, a cluster of potentially oil-rich isles, reefs and
shoals in the South China Sea.