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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique