The government’s defense policy has come under fire from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which called it a failure and said the cross-strait balance of power has already tipped in China’s favor.
DPP Spokesman Lin Yu-chang’s (林右昌) comments came two days after the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) published a report on Taiwan’s air defense capabilities that said that Taiwan’s Air Force aircraft were in various stages of disrepair and questioned Taiwan’s ability to defend itself.
Speaking with reporters yesterday morning, Lin said Taiwan’s defense capabilities has not kept up with technological advances by the People’s Liberation Army.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) published an article yesterday that quoted International Assessment and Strategy Center vice president Richard Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military, as saying that Taiwan should focus on procuring offensive weapons. At present, the US government is only required to provide Taiwan with military hardware of a defensive nature as prescribed by the Taiwan Relations Act.
Lin said the DPP’s military policy was that any conflict between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait be resolved away from Taiwan. He said that to ensure Taiwan’s security, the government should not be limiting itself to buying defensive hardware exclusively.
Lin also cast doubt on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) resolve to push for the purchase of 66 advanced F-16C/D fighter jets that were not included in a US$6.4 billion arms sale package announced by US President Barack Obama last month. He said the Ma administration has been overly reluctant to antagonize China, which any arms deals was sure to do.
In related news, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) urged Washington on Tuesday to decide as soon as possible whether to sell F-16C/D fighters to Taiwan, saying that although it has agreed to continue arms sales, it should not ignore Taiwan’s self defense requirements.
Lu made the remarks during a visit to Washington, where she met several US officials from the Department of State and the American Institute in Taiwan, as well as pro-Taiwan members of Congress.
She said that US Congressional Taiwan Caucus Co-Chair Lincoln Diaz-Balart had promised to seek the endorsement of other members of Congress to pressure the administration into making a decision on the F-16s as soon as possible.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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