A US congressional committee was told on Wednesday that Taiwan needed more advanced fighter aircraft and diesel submarines to defend itself against a possible attack by China.
Testifying before the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Larry Wortzel, a specialist on the Chinese and Taiwanese military, said that despite a notable improvement in relations across the Taiwan Strait, Beijing continues to insist on its right to use force should Taiwan move toward independence.
“The cross-strait military balance increasingly favors China. Beijing has deployed over 1,100 short-range ballistic missiles opposite the island. In my view, Taiwan’s most pressing need is for new or modernized fighter aircraft,” Wortzel said.
Wortzel was speaking at a committee briefing on “China’s behavior and its impact on US interests” held on the first day of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) state visit to Washington.
Republican Representative David Rivera described Taiwan as “a bastion of democracy surrounded by a fortress of tyranny.”
NEW OR EXISTING
Wortzel said the big question was whether to sell Taipei F-16C/D aircraft, which have a long range and could be used for deep strikes inside China “if their [Taiwan’s] military chose to do that” or modernize the existing F-16A/B aircraft that Taiwan already possesses.
He said that he had talked with aviation engineers who thought that with the addition of brand new avionics, radar and targeting equipment, the A/Bs could be converted into “very capable aircraft.”
“They need the aircraft and I think they have to have that need addressed,” Wortzel said.
Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat, asked if there was any reason to believe that Taiwan was not capable of defending itself in case of an invasion.
“I don’t think that is the issue,” Wortzel said. “The issue is how capable would they be in doing it. They would have a hard time defending against 1,100 ballistic missiles. The missiles would do a lot of damage. They would be hard pressed if there were massive special operations insertions into Taiwan to disrupt the infrastructure.”
He said Taiwan could do more to strengthen airfields and storage facilities.
“If there is one thing they could do to immediately improve their capabilities, it would be to link all of their ground, naval, air assets and missiles so they could take part in cooperative target engagements,” Wortzel said. “They are developing their own multiple launch rocket systems and could probably use assistance with precision guided rounds.”
SUBMARINES
Asked about submarines, Wortzel said: “It’s a very difficult problem ... It’s a problem for the US Navy because we really don’t want to work on, or produce, diesel submarines, but they need these submarines.”
“The United States could get Costa Rica to buy a dozen submarines from Germany and then transfer them and it wouldn’t hurt anybody — if the Germans would look the other way on the re-transfer,” he said.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS