US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has indicated for the first time that “China’s sensitivities” will be taken into consideration by US President Barack Obama when he decides whether to sell F-16C/D fighters to Taiwan.
Gates is expected to discuss the potential sale in talks with Chinese Minister of National Defense Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) at the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore this weekend.
During a meeting with US reporters on the way to Singapore, Gates was asked if — in view of pressure building in Congress to let Taipei have the planes — the benefits to Taiwan’s security would outweigh the costs that would be incurred to the relationship with China.
He replied: “We do have obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA] and we have this discussion in virtually every meeting that we have with the Chinese.”
“I would say that I think under both the [former US president George W.] Bush and Obama administrations, we have tried to thread the needle pretty carefully in terms of Taiwan’s defensive capabilities, but at the same time being aware of China’s sensitivities,” Gates said. “I think both administrations have done this very thoughtfully and very carefully. By the same token, just as the Chinese are very open with us about their concerns, we are also open with them about our obligations.”
Asked by the Taipei Times to comment on Gates’ comments and the potential F-16C/D sale, Rick Fisher, a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington, suggested that the secretary may have made an “awful blunder.”
“Secretary Gates has opened a very destabilizing question,” Fisher said. “Are US arms sales to Taiwan determined by obligations under the TRA or by China’s sensitivities? Where in the TRA does it state that the US will be mindful of China’s sensitivities regarding arms sales to Taiwan?”
“Right now, every other American treaty ally is wondering if US security guarantees are being affected by Washington’s consideration of China’s sensitivities,” he said. “If there was ever an American policy statement that deserved public repudiation, this is it.”
Fisher said that “in essence” Gates had suggested that both Bush and Obama had given a communist dictatorship the power to limit US security options in Asia.
“Is this a new US policy formulation or has Secretary Gates made an awful blunder?” Fisher asked. “The dictatorship in Beijing will be sensitive to every arms sale to Taiwan. China will never be satisfied with American concessions and war will not be deterred. It is imperative that the US move ahead with the sale of new F-16 fighters and upgrades for Taiwan’s current F-16s. China has pitched the Asian region into a dangerous arms race and selling weapons to Taiwan remains a critical American policy tool for deterring conflict.”
During his meeting with reporters, Gates was asked for his own views on the sale of F-16C/D fighters to Taiwan.
“I don’t have a view on that at this point,” Gates said.
Gates is retiring at the end of this month and will be replaced by CIA director Leon Panetta, who is expected to continue White House policies aimed at deepening a US-China strategic security dialogue.
In Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell was asked at an event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies if recent congressional pressure would have an impact on the decision to sell the F-16C/Ds.
“Every administration takes the TRA very seriously,” Campbell said. “We understand our responsibilities in that regard and we also recognize that the TRA requires a partnership between the executive and the legislative branch. The US understands our role with respect to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
SECURITY: Grassroots civil servants would only need to disclose their travel, while those who have access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable. The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
RSS