A new study by Heritage Foundation analyst Michaela Dodge urges the US Congress to support the sale of F-16C/D jets to Taiwan and to assist it with the acquisition of eight submarines.
“Taiwan needs to modernize its increasingly obsolescent fighter fleet,” says the study released this week.
“Such modernization would contribute to maintaining a credible defense vis-a-vis China and advance Taiwanese-US relations,” it says.
Dodge argues in her Top 10 To-Do List for the National Defense Authorization Act that Taiwan needs a modern and capable submarine force.
“For 20 years, gridlock in the bureaucracies and politics of both nations have prevented Taiwan from acquiring submarines,” Dodge says.
“Congress should take the lead in finally making it happen,” she says.
The federal National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is passed annually to specify the budget and expenditures of the Department of Defense.
“As Congress prepares to craft this legislation, it should seriously consider policy issues that can improve US security and advance international partnerships,” Dodge says.
The sale of F-16C/Ds and submarines to Taiwan are second on her list of 10 recommendations. Maintaining a permanent US military presence in Europe is first on the list.
Third is a proposal to continue the Pentagon’s annual report on the strength of the Chinese military and to restrict military-to-military contacts with China to prevent “inappropriate exposure to information concerning the US military.”
Dodge also wants to impose conditions on US military-to-military engagement with Myanmar, prohibit the US Navy from spending resources on biofuels and advance a comprehensive, layered missile defense system.
“A good NDAA should advance policies that keep the nation safe, secure, and prosperous in the years ahead,” she says.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS