In Taiwan, the defense establishment is eager to move forward, and the Legislative Yuan has also shown strong support for the F-16 package: In a letter to leading members of the US Congress, a bipartisan group of Taiwanese legislators urged the sale “to maintain a viable deterrent fighting force to ensure a balance of power.”
“Our military must be able to defend our airspace, as a further deterioration in the air balance across the Strait will only encourage PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression,” the legislators said in their letter in December.
However, Washington has had some lukewarm and conflicting signals from Taiwan on the issue. The political leadership, from Ma down, needs to make it crystal clear that it does want to move ahead and redress the balance across the Strait before it is too late and they have their backs against the wall. The Obama and Ma administrations must show steadfast resolve on the issue of defensive arms sales to Taiwan, lest risk a misinterpretation by China regarding the peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue.
Nat Bellocchi is a former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.
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