A WOMAN AND A BABY AT FRIGATE COMMISSIONING CEREMONY, 1996-10-12 (photo)

A Taiwan woman and her baby granddaughter attend the dockside commissioning October 12 of a French-made Lafayette-class frigate, the second of six of the radar-evading "stealth" vessels bought from Paris. The infant's father is among about 100 Taiwan navy men who sailed the frigate from France. The sale of the warships and 60 Mirage fighter jets in the early 1990s outraged Taiwan's rival, communist China, which sees the Nationalist-ruled island as a rebel province and considers such arms sales to be interference in Chinese domestic affairs. Taiwan says it needs advanced weapons to counter China's rapid military modernisation. jkp/Photo by C.C. TAIWAN FRIGATE