US-based media reported on Thursday that the US government had privately decided to sell a new arms package to Taiwan, but was keeping it under wraps until after an official delegation by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) visits next week.
Quoting unnamed senior US government officials, the Washington Times said the package would include new upgrades for Taiwan’s aging arsenal of US-made F-16A/Bs and it is expected to trigger fresh outrage from Beijing.
In Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense and the Air Force would neither confirm nor deny the information, with officials saying they had yet to learn of the content of the reports.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
In recent years, Taiwan has made repeated requests for purchases of F-16C/D aircraft from the US, saying the fighters were necessary to ensure balance in the Taiwan Strait following reports of China’s development and testing of fourth and fifth-generation fighter aircraft, including the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter.
The prototype plane — China’s first radar-eluding stealth fighter, seen as match for the US’ F-22 — reportedly made its first test flight on Wednesday. Experts said that when operational, the fighter would likely overwhelm Taiwanese defense capabilities.
The Washington Times reported that while Taiwan’s request for F-16C/Ds was still being considered, the upgrade package, which would provide the existing fleet with new electronics, engines and missiles, had already been secured.
Other elements of the arms package could include new radar, possibly the advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array system and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles, the report said.
Time is running short for the new F-16 request. US lawmakers who support their inclusion have said that F-16 production lines are expected to close soon, possibly later this year, and are unlikely to be reopened.
The news comes at a sensitive time for US-China relations, with Hu expected to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday. Beijing cut military exchanges after a previous arms deal last year and imposed sanctions on US firms involved in the deal.
One of the aims of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ three-day visit to Beijing earlier this week was to reactivate military exchanges between the US and China.
At a joint press conference on Monday, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) said the US should halt future arms sales to Taiwan, as they “jeopardized China’s core interests.”
Reports said Gates later told reporters he did not believe the US’ arms sales policy toward Taiwan would change anytime soon.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), a member of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, said that based on recent meetings with US government officials, the upgrade package for the F-16s could materialize “soon,” adding that the deal was likelier to materialize than the sale of new F-16C/Ds.
Under the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, the US is obliged to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons, although sales of major hardware, including fighter aircraft, have become less frequent in recent years.
Most of Taiwan’s arsenal of Air Force fighters other than the F-16A/Bs could be retired by 2025, with F-5E/Fs scheduled to be decommissioned between 2014 and 2017.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the