HONG KONG, July 18. /TASS/. The Taiwanese armed forces plan to purchase National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System II (NASAMS II) from the US, the island's Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said.

The top defense official told reporters that his ministry’s budget does indeed envision the purchase of these missile systems. "As for the timing of the acquisition, we have not received the notification yet, but the relevant work is underway," the Taiwanese Central News Agency (CNA) quoted the official as saying.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese civil war. Taipei has since retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China, which had existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of the People’s Republic of China.