The US has agreed to extend a Taipei-Washington pact to train Taiwan's F-16 pilots for five more years, a Taiwanese newspaper said yesterday.
Quoting an unnamed US official, a Chinese-language newspaper said the US renewed the agreement for training Taiwanese F-16 pilots at Luke Airbase in Arizona for another five years, starting next year.
"The training program covers air-to-air combat, night attack, blockage over the sea, air engagement and air command," the paper said in a dispatch from Washington.
The US agreed to sell Taipei150 F-16 warplanes in 1992 when Taipei was negotiating to buy 60 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets from France.
The air force sent an F-16 squadron to Luke Airbase in 1997 under a training program which ends at the end of this year.
The air force fleet consists of 150 F-16s, 60 Mirage 2000-5s and 130 self-built IDFs (Indigenous Defense Fighter).
The purchase of the F-16s and Mirage 2000-5s has given Taiwan an edge over the Chinese air force, but some analysts believe Taipei could lose this air superiority if the US sells F-16s to Pakistan and India, close allies of China, and if the EU lifts the ban on arms sale to China.
On March 25, President George W. Bush authorized the sale of F-16s to Pakistan to reward Islamabad for joining in the US-led war against terrorism.
Simultaneously Bush also allowed US firms to sell warplanes, including upgraded F-16s and F-18s, to India.
Taiwanese analysts have expressed fear that Pakistan and India would pass on the F-16 technology to China and help the Chinese air force in preparing an attack on Taiwan.
Meanwhile China is also seeking to buy Mirage warplanes from France. In April, Hong Kong's Commercial Daily reported that China has been negotiating since late last year to buy 210 Mirage 2000-9CS from Dasault Aviation, and could get the jets as soon as the EU lifts the arms sales ban on China.
The paper reported China plans to send 40 pilots to France this month to learn how to fly Mirage jets, and take delivery of the first 30 Mirage 2000-9CS at the end of next year.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS