In a joint letter sent to US President Barack Obama on Friday, 136 members of the House of Representatives called on the US administration to deal seriously with Taiwan’s self-defense by selling it F-16C/D fighter jets.
Initiated by Shelley Berkley, Gerald Connolly, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Phil Gingrey, the co-chairs of the Taiwan Caucus, a congressional group friendly to Taiwan, the letter urged the Obama administration to come to a decision on the arms deal as soon as possible.
EXCLUDED
The US government, in its latest US$6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan announced in January, excluded the F-16C/Ds, which the congressmen said Taiwan desperately needs.
Taiwan’s air defense capability has been declining because of the aging of its fleet and China’s deployment of 1,300 short and medium-range missiles targeted at Taiwan, the letter said, necessitating the sale.
URGENT
With the F-16 jet’s production lines soon to be closed, selling F-16C/Ds to Taiwan has become more urgent, the letter said.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the US is obliged to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons.
RETIREMENT
Taiwan’s F-5E/F fighters are expected to be retired sometime between 2014 and 2017, reducing Taiwan’s fighter fleet from 387 to 327 aircraft, according to a report titled The Balance of Air Power in the Taiwan Strait released on Tuesday by the Washington-based US-Taiwan Business Council.
Furthermore, the French-made Mirage 2000-5s and Taiwan-developed IDFs may not extend their service beyond 2025, leaving Taiwan’s Air Force with only 145 F-16A/Bs acquired from the US in 1992, it 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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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