Liberty Times (LT): There has been almost no progress in the past three years in the nation’s arms procurement from the US, especially concerning the purchase of F-16C/D fighter jets and submarines. The Ministry of National Defense has recently also decided to list next year’s budget for military purchases as “symbolic budgeting” (象徵性編列) as opposed to “substantial budgeting” (實質編列). As the cross-strait military balance shifts more in China’s favor, what do you think are the problems with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration?
Lin Cheng-yi (林正義): The soon-to-be retired Robert Gates has been the US defense secretary under both [former US president] George W. Bush and [US President] Barack Obama administrations and he has mentioned that one major part in the attitudes of the two presidents when it comes to arms sales to Taiwan has been consideration of the China factor.
In retrospect, in terms of Taiwan-US military cooperation, if the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] had been unable to pass relevant budgets in the Legislative Yuan [for purchase of military equipment], then the KMT, which for a long time had been opposed to arms sales, should be severely criticized.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The KMT has in the past said that it was because of [then-president] Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) pro-Taiwan independence stance that the US was reluctant to sell certain military equipment to Taiwan, but [the truth is] that now even with improving cross-strait ties, the US is still reluctant to sell many arms systems to Taiwan.
When the KMT was the opposition party, it boycotted the arms sales. Now that the DPP is the opposition, the DPP not only does not boycott the arms sales, it stands by the Ma administration in a show of strength hoping the US government would facilitate the sale of F-16C/D fighter jets to Taiwan.
For Taiwan, it might possibly have to wait for a long while, as the timing of the issue might be tied to the US presidential election [next year]. In September 1992, then-US president George H.W. Bush announced prior to the election that the US would approve the sale of 150 F-16A/B fighter planes to Taiwan, which leads me to speculate that the most important point in time for the Obama administration to consider arms sales to Taiwan would be during the election for a bid at a second term in the Oval Office.
One thing different, however, would be the strength with which China voices its objection, which is much greater now than in 1992.
If we are to compare the year 1992 to the year 2011, cross-strait relations were on good terms at both times. In 1992, there were cross-strait secret envoys and China did not react too strongly to US arms sales to Taiwan. In 2011, not only are there about 20 open channels of negotiation, there are also the channels that are not transparent and not too well known to outsiders. However, China evidently is focusing on the US and its disapproval is strong enough to force the US to have many second thoughts concerning arms sales to Taiwan.
I think perhaps there is one particular point that both the current Ma administration and the previous Chen administration did not grasp well.
Between 2004 and 2008, there was this view in the US that Taiwan must first ready its budget for arms procurement before the US government was to move on to the next step in the process of arms sales.
All we’re hearing now is talk and a will to oblige, but is the Ma administration willing to prepare the necessary funding and subsequent sets of measures, as well as facilitating arms sale procedures?
It’s one of the issues where we are not in sync with the US government.
Our thoughts are: The US government hasn’t even agreed to the sale, so why should we have a standing budget? But for the US, not only does Taiwan need to have the will, it also needs to have action. With no action from our side, the only way for the US president to announce arms sales is for him to be leaned on by the US Congress.
As of May 2011, the number of senators in the US Senate that have professed willingness to support arms sales of F-16C/D fighter jets numbered 45. If the number were to increase to 70 senators and the majority of the 435 members in the US House of Representatives also agreed to support the motion, then it would present pressure on the White House.
But for this to happen, we have to do a lot of lobbying in the US.
The issue of arms sales shouldn’t be divided between opposition and ruling parties; if having this weaponry would make China’s non-peaceful [annexation of Taiwan] more difficult, it should then be unanimously agreed upon by everyone. Quite unfortunately, the KMT, despite possessing a majority in the legislature, did not work together on the issue [of arms sales] in the past and it should take the big share of responsibility for the current difficulties in the arms sale deal that the Ma administration faces.
I would have to put a question mark on whether current Taiwan-US relations are the best they have ever been. Because if it were the best, the US should not have such reservations in the face of our strong request for the sale of F-16C/D fighter jets and the united front both Taiwan’s governing and opposition parties have on the issue.
There are still people within the US that feel the development of cross-strait relations are not certain, aren’t transparent enough, can’t be grasped firmly or may be uncomfortable with the speed at which events are happening. Some also feel that the communication between the Taiwanese and US governments, especially in terms of US government officials or academics, is not enough.
In other words, the rapid development of cross-strait relations — which not even people within Taiwan can be certain of with every signed accord and its subsequent effects — it would be even more difficult for the US’ China experts and Taiwan experts to track events happening in the Taiwan Strait.
The improvement of cross-strait relations is positive, but there are risks. Is Taiwan prepared to analyze these risks and develop prevention measures of all kinds? If we only ameliorate relations with China without preparing our military, the US would of course worry, especially since China has taken a hard-line stance with nations near Taiwan, such as the Philippines, Japan and Vietnam.
LT: Exchanges between retired generals across the Strait have been very frequent in recent years. What are your thoughts on the alleged statement that “The Republic of China [ROC] Army and the People’s Liberation Army [PLA] are all China’s Army”?
Lin: [In fact] there were about 70 retired generals who visited China last year, and from what I recall, there were about 20 who stood as Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Jia Qinglin (賈慶林) went around shaking hands with them one by one.
The ROC military’s retired generals can, of course, go to China, but this sort of large-scale, formally organized, continuous and frequent exchange has never been seen before, including the golf matches between retired generals of the ROC military and the PLA in Xiamen in 2009 and in Nanjing last year.
When the ROC generals were in the military, they were educated that the primary threat to the ROC was the Chinese Communist Party. After they retired, their actions nonetheless are still highly sensitive and can easily be interpreted extensively. Therefore, from the beginning, they should have watched what they said and the goals they wish to achieve should have had clear boundaries.
The retired generals may feel that peace is needed across the Strait, but in the process of attaining peace, there are many standards that must be gauged carefully, especially since the retired generals have many colleagues that are still serving. There can’t be a double standard in that the ROC military is the ROC military and the PLA is the PLA while they are still serving, but then that line of distinction disappears when they retire.
This issue would definitely make Taiwan domestically, especially our armed forces, muddled [on who the enemy is.]
It is obvious that when China hosts these retired generals, there is an agenda it wishes to accomplish. The six policies listed by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in 2008, for example, specifically mentioned that both sides could discuss establishing a military confidence-building mechanism across the Strait, which [the Chinese] are currently pursuing. This policy [of China’s] is very obvious and we need to be very careful. However, the government appears not to be paying attention on this issue, which is regrettable.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching