Elements within the US government are actively trying to undermine aspects of an arms procurement deal with Taiwan, sources said, while a US congressman will arrive in Taipei today in an effort to move the issue forward.
The most contentious part of the blocked special arms procurement budget bill, which would have allowed for the purchase of three major weapons systems from the US, is the eight diesel-electric submarines that were approved for sale by the Bush administration in early 2001.
Reports in Jane's Defence Weekly and the Defense News recently said that officials in the US Navy, National Security Council (NSC) and State Department were effectively conspiring to prevent Taiwan from acquiring the submarines, while keeping the issue politically in play.
"The United States has no intention of making good on President George W. Bush's 2001 promise to sell eight advanced diesel submarines to the self-governing island," the Defense News wrote in an editorial on Feb. 13.
"US submarine officers privately fear that if an American shipyard did begin building conventionally powered boats, the production of more-capable nuclear boats would come to a halt once Congress saw a diesel sub's cheaper price tag," it wrote. "So the US Navy is taking pains to ensure that any proposed deal that might fulfill Bush's eight-sub promise will be unaffordable or unacceptable to Taipei."
A US government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, directly charged the Bush administration with undermining Taiwan's security to avoid difficult political issues.
He said that "the Bush administration has deceived Taiwan for a couple of reasons."
"For NSC staff and [the] State [Department], it has been to keep Taiwan internally paralyzed, and use [President] Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁] as a whipping boy," the source said. "They can now deny anything and everything that Taiwan asks for because `Taiwan doesn't take its defense seriously.'"
"The idea is to keep it [the arms procurement deal] on the table, or keep the `political football' in play, to use the words of the Defense Conference last September," the source said.
Meanwhile, US Representative Rob Simmons, a Connecticut Republican, will arrive in Taiwan today to "urge Taiwan[ese] legislators to pass a defense supplemental that would be used to purchase eight new diesel submarines," according to a press release issued by Simmons' office.
Simmons, a former CIA officer who speaks fluent Mandarin and was stationed in Taiwan in the 1970s, has longstanding ties with many government and military officials here.
Simmons' district is home to General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corp, a shipbuilding firm that focuses primarily on submarines. The press release issued by the congressman's office focused on the benefits that a sub deal with Taiwan might bring the company.
"[Simmons] will leave for Taipei, Taiwan Saturday night on a five-day trip designed to bring much-needed work to Electric Boat [EB] ... The push is part of a multi-pronged plan to avoid large-scale layoffs at EB," the statement said.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS