Argentina Implements Confidentiality System for Latest Military Purchase

Xinhua News Agency, Buenos Aires, October 19 (Reporter Zhang Duo) Argentine President Milei signed a decree on the 19th announcing the implementation of a confidentiality system for the latest arms procurement.

The decree states that this procurement plan is classified as a military secret, and information related to contracts, types of weapons, costs, suppliers, receiving departments, and so on is "absolutely confidential."

Argentina is undergoing the largest military reform in nearly a decade. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, Marcelo Alejandro Daller Nogare, confirmed on the 17th during an event in Buenos Aires that Germany and France will jointly finance approximately $3.355 billion for the Argentine Navy to purchase three submarines. According to Argentine media statistics, the Argentine government has allocated about $445 million from December 2023 to last August for the purchase and upgrading of military equipment.

Recently, relations between Argentina and the United Kingdom have become tense due to the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas Islands (referred to as the Falkland Islands by the UK), and the Argentine government has also urged neighboring Chile not to cooperate with the UK on the sovereignty dispute over the islands.

Argentina and the UK have a dispute over the sovereignty of the islands. In April 1982, Argentina and the UK went to war over the issue of sovereignty, which ended in a British victory. Since the defeat, Argentina has not given up its claim to sovereignty over the islands, while the UK has refused to negotiate on the sovereignty issue.