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Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Tuesday that a submarine purchase deal with Beijing would go through despite earlier doubts raised by the prime minister regarding issues with the engines.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said on Monday that the deal could be scrapped if China is unable to find the contract-specified engines for the submarine.
According to the deal that was signed in 2017, the S26T Yuan-class submarine that Thailand ordered was supposed to be fitted with three MTU396 diesel engines from Germany’s Motor and Turbine Union.
The company is unable to supply the engines because of the European Union’s arms embargo that was imposed on China after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Rear Admiral Apichai Sompolgrunk of the Royal Thai Navy told Voice of America last week that the construction of the submarine is now on hold.
Prawit, on Tuesday, appeared to push back against those earlier statements.
“What cancellation? I do not know about that,” he told reporters at the government house. “There are engines [to be fitted].”
The navy’s spokesman, Vice Admiral Pokkrong Monthatphalin, said this week that the Thai navy will discuss with China Shipbuilding & Offshore International on possible solutions to the engine problem.
Navy commander Admiral Somprasong Nilsamai said on Saturday that China has to comply with the contract and no change has been made to the deal so far.