President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated his call on the US to sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan during a meeting with American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt and emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance of military strength across the Taiwan Strait.
The procurement of weapons conforms to the Taiwan Relations Act, Ma said, adding that the fighter aircraft would replace an aging fleet and would only be used for defensive purposes.
“The defense budget failed to reach 3 percent of GDP, but that budget is still more than the budget for last year ... The government will continue efforts to make sure the budget for national defense meets demands,” Ma said at the Presidential Office.
Photo: CNA
According to official figures, the defense budget last year was NT$297.4 billion (US$9.3 billion), compared with NT$297.2 billion this year. However, when asked for clarification, the Presidential Office told the Taipei Times that once subsidies for veterans’ housing and other expenditures not directly related to defense were factored in, the total budget for this year was NT$374.8 billion.
Burghardt, who arrived in Taipei on Sunday for a five-day visit, remained noncommittal on the 66 F-16C/Ds requested by Taipei and said he “didn’t come this time with any kind of special message from Washington.”
In his meeting with Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday, Burghardt said that arms sales to Taiwan would continue, while describing the fighter aircraft sale as “an old subject.”
Ma, who said Washington has remained unwilling to accept a letter of request for the F-16C/Ds, thanked the US for releasing two arms procurement packages in 2008 and last year — both leftovers from former US president George W. Bush’s administration — to help Taiwan maintain its necessary defense capabilities.
Ma also thanked the US for assisting in Taiwan’s plan to join the International Civil Aviation Organization, saying air travel was becoming increasingly important now that the number of weekly cross-strait flights has increased from 370 to 558.
He also pointed to what he referred to as achievements in improving cross-strait relations and said the two sides would address issues such as investment protection, a dispute-resolution mechanism and nuclear security in cross-strait negotiations later this year.
Commenting on January’s presidential and legislative elections, Burghardt said the AIT congratulated Taiwan for its success in developing a real democracy and said that the US remained neutral on Taiwan’s elections.
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
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
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