President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday thanked Washington for supplying new arms to Taiwan, saying it gave his administration more confidence when dealing with China.
Ma said he learned from the US media recently that there might be some new developments in the country’s arms procurement plans.
“We are happy to see such a development,” he said. “The US government’s arms sale to Taiwan is not only Washington’s obligation as stated in the Taiwan Relations Act but also conducive to stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Ma said the country was thankful that the US government was resolute in its position on this issue and because of Washington’s insistence, the region would be safer and more prosperous.
Ma made the remarks while meeting a delegation led by Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
The Washington Post ran a Reuters story on Thursday saying that the US Department of Defense had awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract for selling an unspecified number of advanced Patriot missiles to Taiwan.
The report quoted defense analysts as saying that the hardware was among the best in its class and could shoot down Chinese short-range and mid-range missiles.
China was quick to denounce the plan and urged the US to scrap the planned sale.
The Chinese foreign ministry also demanded that Washington avoid arranging a meeting between US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, the China Daily reported.
The Washington Post said the meeting and the arms sale could take place early in the year.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) urged Washington to “see clearly the harm [of any such moves] and cancel the arms sale plan to Taiwan so as to avoid disturbing the overall situation,” the China Daily said.
She called on the US to adhere to the three Sino-US joint communiques, especially the principles established in the Joint Communique on Aug. 17, 1982.
The communique states that the US intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution.
The China Daily said the revised arms sale proposal was announced by Robert Kovac, the acting US deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade, in December.
The package includes design assistance on diesel-electric submarines and 60 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. In addition, more PAC-3 missiles, as well as an operations deal for a command and control program, were under discussion, the report quoted Kovac as saying.
The former administration of US president George W. Bush announced a US$6.5 billion arms package for Taiwan in October 2008. The deal included 30 Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles. It was to be the biggest arms sale to Taiwan since China and the US signed the 1982 Communique.
The contract with Lockheed Martin Corp this time was a part of that deal in 2008.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS