A major US newspaper is reporting that despite representatives of both parties in the US Congress pushing US President Barack Obama to sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan, only the upgrading of older models “looks likely.”
“The Obama administration isn’t budging,” the Wall Street Journal said in an editorial.
The daily said that although the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) requires Washington to sell the arms Taiwan needs to defend itself, “Beijing has succeeded in intimidating successive administrations into deferring those sales.”
Under the headline “Unkept Promises to Taiwan” and the subhead “The US is rewarding Beijing’s tantrums over arms sales,” the Wall Street Journal said lawmakers were now pushing to upgrade the TRA.
The paper said the push had “little chance of passing,” but that it could serve a useful purpose by “putting the spotlight on America’s failure to live up to its promises.”
“The problem is not just China’s increasingly advanced and numerous fighters, but also its nearly 2,000 ballistic missiles that could hit Taiwanese airfields,” it said. “The Chinese will no doubt complain loudly about any proposed change to the TRA, just as they do when even modest arms sales to Taiwan are approved.”
“Beijing has suspended military-to-military ties with the US twice in the last three years over such sales. But it is the US that encourages such histrionics by reinforcing the impression that it will eventually allow the abandonment of Taiwan to become a fait accompli,” the paper said.
A better strategy, the newspaper said, would be to set a long-term objective for returning Taiwan to a viable position of being able to defend itself, so that it could negotiate with China from a position of strength.
“This would require reaching a bipartisan consensus on a program of future sales that would come into effect as long as China’s offensive buildup continues,” it said.
“Future administrations could then minimize the politicking by hewing to this program,” it said.
The newspaper said that once Beijing was conditioned to understand that its threats to hold the entire bilateral relationship hostage to this one issue were no longer working, “the outbursts would subside.”
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
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