There was a flurry of activity in Washington this week surrounding Taiwan’s submarine program — but little indication of much real progress.
Chief of US Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert confirmed that he had talked with colleagues in Taipei about the program, a Taiwanese delegation was on Capitol Hill lobbying for submarine help, and House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said in an interview that the US supported Taiwan’s efforts to build its own submarines.
However, sources close to US President Barack Obama’s administration and the Pentagon said there were no new moves afoot for the US to help Taiwan buy the much-needed diesel submarines or for technology transfers essential to domestic production.
“I have noted the activity surrounding Taiwan’s domestic submarine program, but do not infer that heralds progress behind the scenes,” US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said.
“While the Obama administration does have several defense initiatives up and running with Taiwan, it does not appear to have any interest in defense modernization programs... That includes the submarine program and the possibility of a follow-on fighter sale,” he told the Taipei Times in an e-mail.
Hammond-Chambers said that while support from the US Congress was useful, it could not meaningfully impact US engagement on Taiwan’s submarine program.
“That can only start with the Obama administration making a policy-level decision to support the program,” he said.
Hammond-Chambers said there was “zero indication” that the White House had any intention to support Taiwan’s request for submarine help.
“They are committed to US-China mil-to-mil cooperation, and arms sales to Taiwan are linked by the Chinese and the Obama administration to the continuation of that process,” Hammond-Chambers said.
Other sources with direct links to the White House and the Pentagon, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, said they were aware of no new developments on Taiwan’s desire to acquire submarines.
Nevertheless, Washington-based military experts continued to support Taiwan’s need for submarines.
“There is little time to lose,” International Assessment and Strategy Center senior fellow in Asian military affairs Rick Fisher told the Taipei Times.
He said the Chinese navy was intently focused on building anti-submarine forces, including new corvettes and frigates equipped with towed active-passive sonar arrays “most useful for the sea conditions around Taiwan.”
A new Shaanxi Y-9 long-range anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft was also being tested.
Still, finding and defeating modern very quiet conventional submarines remained one of the most difficult missions for any navy, Fisher said.
“A much larger Taiwanese submarine force will deter war on the Taiwan Strait... Washington’s failure to properly mobilize a policy focus on helping Taiwan to successfully obtain new submarines is just one of many expectations of American leadership in Asia which have fallen short in the last decade,” he said.
He said that Taiwan’s need for new submarines had been “glaringly obvious” for 20 years and successive Taiwanese governments had expended great effort toward obtaining them.
Meanwhile, US news organizations reported this week that China’s submarine fleet was projected to reach 78 vessels by 2020, the same as the US.
By way of response to the Chinese expansion, Vietnam has bought six submarines from Russia, Japan is replacing its entire submarine fleet, South Korea is adding larger attack-submarines and India plans to build six new submarines.
Stockholm Institute senior researcher Siemon Wezeman has been quoted as saying: “ Submarines are seen as a potential for an underdog to cope with a large adversary. They can move silently and deny aerial or maritime control.”
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,