US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has expressed serious concern about Taiwan's ability to protect itself against possible attacks by China, and urged Taiwan to strengthen its defenses with the proposed arms purchase, according to a Taiwanese legislator visiting Washington.
According to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
Wolfowitz said that if Taiwan did not take action as soon as possible to strengthen its defenses, China would be encouraged to invest more on military equipment, Lee told the Taipei Times after he and a multi-party legislative delegation headed by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) spent a day in Washington discussing Taiwan's arms procurement budget with top defense and State Department officials.
The 15-member delegation was briefed by 25 US military and civilian officials during a breakfast meeting on the first day of a three-day visit on Monday morning, and then went off to separate meetings at the Pentagon and the State Department.
Although Wang is from the pan-blue camp, he still showed support for the purchase.
"The balance of military power on the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] is necessary to the area's peace, stability and prosperity," Wang said.
The delegation was to attend a congressional meeting yesterday to discuss the prospects for a measure before the US Congress to enhance military relations between the US and Taiwan through greater joint activities and mutual visits by top officials who are currently barred from such visits by long-term US policy.
That measure, proposed by Senator Sam Brownback, is expected to come up for a vote this week. The House recently approved a parallel bill.
On Monday, American officials were "vague" about the US' commitment to help Taiwan fend off an attack from China, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Kuo-hua (
After the US officials insisted that it would be in Taiwan's best interests to buy the weapons stipulated in the special budget package -- diesel submarines, P-3C anti-submarine aircraft and Patriot anti-missile systems -- the legislators received somewhat unsatisfactory answers to their questions, Sun said.
When asked if the US would come to Taiwan's defense against China if it were to buy all the weapons, the US side was "vague," Sun said, "because they couldn't say they wouldn't come to our defense, because if they said that, Beijing would say, `Okay, let's attack.'"
"I think the United States is keeping that deliberately vague," he said.
Washington has long been pressuring Taiwan to buy the robust weapons package US President George W. Bush promised in April 2001.
Meanwhile, Pentagon officials were still unable to provide details on the design and cost of the eight diesel submarines included in the package, Sun said.
"We didn't even see a configuration for the submarines ... there's a lot of uncertainties in the cost estimates," he said. "The United States Navy doesn't know."
Sun indicated that Washington was still looking toward various European countries to provide the designs.
But the US officials "gave no indication where the subs will come from" and could not provide a price estimate, Sun said.
"They could only give a rough estimate. We want them to be more accurate," he said.
"How can we approve the cost in the budget if we don't know?" he said.
US shipbuilding companies, "cannot build diesel submarines," because they have not manufactured any for more than 40 years, Sun said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from