Former US secretary of defense William Perry yesterday cast doubt on the proficiency and capability of a Chinese aircraft carrier program, saying he was more concerned about the People’s Liberation Army’s anti-ship missiles.
Leading a delegation of eight on a visit to Taipei, Perry, co--director of the Preventive Defense Project, a collaborative research effort between Stanford University and Harvard University, spent time with reporters at intervals during his schedule.
Asked to assess the capabilities of the Varyag, China’s first aircraft carrier, which is reportedly to begin a sea trials today, Perry said: “China is very far away from having an operational aircraft carrier.”
China purchased the Soviet-era Varyag from Ukraine in 1998 for US$20 million. Up until recently, the yet-to-be-renamed aircraft carrier was undergoing refurbishing work at Dalian port in Liaoning Province.
“Even the aircraft carrier, it is not important in and of itself. It’s the operation of an aircraft carrier group [that matters]. During the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, we didn’t send two aircraft carriers. We sent two aircraft carrier groups, and that involved many other ships, involved submarines, involved airplanes, and most importantly, it involved years and years of training,” Perry said.
During the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, which saw the largest naval movement by the US in the Asia--Pacific region since the Vietnam War, Perry, then-US secretary of defense, recommended to then-US president Bill Clinton that he dispatch the Nimitz and Independence aircraft carrier battle groups to near the Taiwan Strait.
“Any concern at all we or Taiwan might have on that [China’s aircraft carrier capabilities] is decades in the future, not years in the future, a long time away,” Perry said.
However, this does not mean that progress in China’s modernization of its navy, as evidenced by the completion of the refurbished aircraft carrier, was not a threat, Perry said.
“Some of China’s navy modernization program is very important. We watch it very carefully. My great concern has to do with their ground-to-ship and air-to-ship missiles, not the aircraft carrier. That’s a very remote concern in my mind,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS