News / Evergreen dismisses claim its box ship orders could fund Chinese military

Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding.

Taiwanese liner operator Evergreen Marine Corporation has asserted that its orders for 24 containerships at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding were purely commercial decisions and not aimed at helping China to build up its navy.

Evergreen was responding to the US thinktank Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS), which last week suggested that contracts between Evergreen and shipbuilder Wenchong’s parent company, China State Shipbuilding, would reduce the cost of upgrading China’s navy, posing security concerns for Taiwan.

When the Chinese Communist Party ...