Two senior US Republican senators on Monday asked US President Donald Trump’s administration to allow the sale of Lockheed Martin F-35 jets to Taiwan, saying it would help it “remain a democracy” in the face of threats from China.
“These fighters will have a positive impact on Taiwan’s self-defense and would act as a necessary deterrent to China’s aggressive military posture across the Asia-Pacific region,” senators John Cornyn, the assistant majority leader, and James Inhofe, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, said in a letter to Trump.
“After years of military modernization, China shows the ability to wage war against Taiwan for the first time since the 1950’s,” they wrote. “However, with your leadership, it is possible to help Taiwan remain a democracy, free to establish a relationship with China that is not driven by military coercion.”
Photo: Reuters
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump on March 16 signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages the US to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa.
The Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday reiterated its support for the legislation.
“President Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)] believes that stable relations between Taiwan and the US serve as an important foundation for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Taiwan has the ability and is willing to work with the United States in the Indo-Pacific region to make more contributions,” the office said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) told Chinese state television late on Monday that “certain Americans” were trying to play the Taiwan card, which harmed the interests of people in China and Taiwan.
“This is duping Taiwan compatriots,” Liu said, without naming any US officials. “It is futile for any outside forces to try and play the Taiwan card and doing anything to harm the interest of the Chinese people.”
The US military has put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy unveiled by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in January.
Other US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Singapore, are also exploring the purchase of F-35s.
Lockheed said it hit its target last year of delivering 66 F-35 jets to the US and its allies.
This article has been corrected since it was first published to indicate that the Taiwan Travel Act is a public law, not a non-binding congressional resolution.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS