Doubts were being cast on reports this week that US Vice President Joe Biden would assure Beijing during his visit next month that the US would not sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
While refusing to comment directly on the reports, a source close to US President Barack Obama’s administration said that just a few days ago the US Department of State had confirmed that “no decision” had been made on whether to sell the aircraft to Taiwan.
“That has not changed,” the source said.
Pressed for what that meant for Biden’s trip, he said: “No decision has been made. Until a decision is made, there is no way that Biden or anyone else can tell the Chinese about it.”
Officials spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the delicate diplomatic situation.
Biden will visit Beijing in the middle of next month and is certain to be closely questioned and warned about US arms sales to Taiwan.
A “senior US official” reportedly told the Chinese-language news agency DW News that Biden would tell Beijing that the US would agree to update Taiwan’s aging 144 F-16A/B aircraft and that a formal announcement would be made in September.
There has been widespread speculation over the past month that the upgrade will go ahead, but that the sale of the much more advanced F-16C/Ds will not be approved.
However, that speculation has not been confirmed by anyone in a position to know.
There can be little doubt that a sale of the F-16C/Ds would result in a strong protest from Beijing and disruption of US-China relations. Most likely, Beijing would break off the military-to-military contacts so desired by Washington.
While China would also protest upgrading Taiwan’s older F-16A/B aircraft, it would be less concerned and would be less likely to disrupt relations with Washington.
US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and a strong supporter of selling the more advanced F-16C/Ds to Taiwan, was not available for comment.
However, “it would be deeply disappointing were the administration to inform Beijing about this decision before consulting with and informing the US Congress,” a senior congressional aide said.
Another senior aide confirmed that the administration had not told Congress that a decision on the F-16 sale had been made and that it was “impossible to believe” that Biden would share that information with China before he would share it with Capitol Hill.
Rick Fisher, a senior fellow in Asian military affairs with the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center, told the Taipei Times that the DW News report could be an example of Chinese disinformation.
“DW News appears to be a US company, but it resembles other large Chinese Internet news portals like Sina.com, albeit with a less pronounced nationalist bent,” Fisher said.
“The lack of any real descriptor of its ‘senior’ US source raises the possibility that knowledgeable Chinese government officials, perhaps even Propaganda Department officials, are the real origin of the story,” he said.
Fisher said that Beijing wants to convince Chinese and Taiwanese audiences that it is slowly forcing the US to surrender its military and political interests on Taiwan and that Taiwanese must eventually surrender to China.
Nevertheless, he said there was little in the Obama administration’s statements or “body language” to indicate it was willing to proceed with the sale of new F-16s in the foreseeable future.
“Washington gains nothing by delaying the sale of new F-16s to Taiwan. Selling new F-16s with modern subsystems will more quickly prepare the Taiwan Air Force for what it really needs, a version of the fifth-generation F-35. Depending upon the equipment package, upgrading Taiwan’s early model F-16s can sustain a low level of parity, but that will not keep pace with a Chinese threat that grows every day,” Fisher said.
“For Washington, no amount of mil-to-mil contact with the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] is worth allowing deterrence on the Taiwan Strait to decline to the point of inviting a catastrophic war,” Fisher said.
“Regardless of the DW News story’s veracity, the Obama administration risks projecting that it values the former more than preventing the later,” he said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or