US President Donald Trump’s administration is moving forward with a US$8 billion arms sale to Taiwan of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets despite Beijing’s protests, the Washington Post reported yesterday, citing an anonymous official and other sources familiar with the matter.
The US Department of State notified the US Congress late on Thursday that it would submit the deal to lawmakers for an informal review, the Post said, before calling the potential deal “the largest and most significant sale of weaponry” to Taiwan in years.
The decision came amid stalling trade talks and rising tensions between the US and China, the report said.
Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP
Lawmakers from the Democratic and Republican parties had raised concerns that Trump could scuttle the arms sale to assist ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing or use it as a bargaining chip, the report said.
In response, Air Force Command said on Facebook yesterday that the Republic of China Air Force would increase its number of tactical fighter wings from seven to eight after receiving the upgraded F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft.
Establishing a new tactical fighter wing is part of the air force’s plan to grow the service, which would see the most significant increase in the strength of the air force in 20 years, the command said.
Should the project be implemented as planned, the air force would attain its goal of having volunteers comprise 90 percent of its personnel, it said.
The air force’s fleet of third-generation fighter aircraft have reached the middle of their service life and urgently need to be replaced due to increasing military threats and future requirements, the command said.
The F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft, or F-16 jets that have been upgraded to the F-16V standard, would be equipped with advanced avionics, possess enhanced capabilities for firing beyond-visual-range missiles, and require short takeoff and landing distances, the command said.
Procuring upgraded F-16s would mean that pilots could be trained faster, as the aircraft would be similar to what they are used to and would provide logistics and maintenance benefits, it said.
The air force has been asking the US for upgraded jets since 2008 and has not received positive feedback until now, it said, adding that the proposed sale is in the process of deliberation, as per US laws and regulations.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
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