Chinese in Taiwan can't trust Chinese in mainland, because of leaders of mainland threatened military force Taiwan. So Taiwanese people should buy more anti-missile weaponry under self-protection the maintaining democracy indeed.

The report from Taipei Nov. 21 --- Taiwan will propose buying guided missile destroyers, anti-missile systems and submarines in an ongoing military meeting in the United States, a report said Sunday.

A senior ROC military delegation flew to Washington last week and began talks with U.S. authorities on arms procurement, the China Times said.

"The two major items on the Taiwan group's shopping list are Aegis destroyers and updated Patriot anti-missile weaponry," the paper said.

It said Washington would respond to the request in the spring.

The 8,000-tonne Aegis destroyer now serving the U.S. navy is armed with 90 Standard II surface-to-air missiles, eight Harpoon ship-to-ship missiles, MK32 torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The state-of-the-art destroyer known for its capability to track ballistic missiles could be used as a seaborne platform for anti-missile systems.

The defense ministry would not comment on the military mission to Washington, the first after President Lee Teng-hui's July assertion that cross-strait relations were conducted on a basis of equality.

Tensions have since mounted across the Taiwan Strait with PRC leaders insisting on their right to use force against the island. Beijing said Lee's claim of statehood was part of his push for the island's formal separation.

But the ministry did call attention to the importance of arms build-up against mainland China's perceived threat.

"How to ensure security has emerged as the defense ministry's priority as the Chinese communists kept devoting their efforts to military modernization and increasing threat to us," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

"We sent people to Washington to discuss our defense, and they also offered us defense weapons in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)," the spokesman said.

The U.S. introduced the TRA to regulate ties with the island after switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Mainland China is to receive next month the first of four Sovremenny-class (Modern-class) destroyers from Russia, each armed with eight SS-N22 supersonic anti-ship missiles and 48 SAN-17 air defense missiles.

Military analysts said mainland China would be able to pose a threat to Taiwan and the U.S. Seventh Fleet cruising in the Asia Pacific region.

Beijing was forced to ease its military pressure on Taiwan during the 1996 missile crisis after Washington sent two carrier groups into waters near the island.

The China Times said Washington kept a low profile on Taiwan's recent visit for fear of harming fragile ties with Beijing, which were strained following NATO's bombing of the PRC embassy in Belgrade earlier this year.

It said the team from Taiwan would also recommend buying diesel-powered submarines, a weapon Taipei says it badly needs in countering communist China's navy.