Deputy Minister of National Defense Liu Chen-wu (劉震武) is pleading with the US to provide more weapons for Taiwan’s defense.
“That is how we can prevent the People’s Republic of China from recklessly starting a war and further deter threats,” Liu told the 14th annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Monday.
Liu asked the US to continue to observe the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances” and continue to provide defensive weapons and technical support for both hardware and software.
Photo: CNA
“In terms of hardware, please continue to provide major weapons and platforms for joint counter air, joint sea control and joint homeland defense operations, including advanced fighters and diesel-electric submarines,” he said.
While the conference was closed to the media, a copy of Liu’s speech was made available.
Sources said that senior Pentagon officials at the conference were sympathetic to Liu’s appeals, but said in private talks that weapon sales to Taiwan were a political issue and subject to White House decisionmaking.
Liu said Taiwan could play a key role in supporting regional stability and complement US strategy.
“It is our hope that the bilateral relationship can become even closer, and the two countries can jointly maintain peace in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
Liu said that China, backed by its military power and rising nationalism, continues to dispatch ships and aircraft to patrol the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, which Taiwan also claims — which was “generating great tension with Japan.”
China’s recent construction on seven South China Sea islands was transforming reefs into fortresses and islands into military bases, which pose unpredictable risks for conflict in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
According to Liu, China was making dramatic increases to its military budget, developing new arms and carrying out “Taiwan-scenario exercises” in preparation for operations in the Taiwan Strait and to deny US intervention.
“Security threats from the People’s Republic of China also include cyberattacks and political, diplomatic, military and economic espionage,” he said.
Liu said Taiwan’s armed forces were a “strong shield” for Taipei to pursue cross-strait peace, maintain regional stability and create prosperity.
Taiwan must adopt a more self-reliant defense strategy, conduct defense technology research and build a core indigenous defense capacity, he said.
“The keys to achieve this objective are to expand scientific research capacity and to cultivate research talents,” he said.
“We hope the US and ROC [Republic of China] can enhance defense industrial cooperation and that the US can provide new high-technology for the ROC to acquire the capacity to build key equipment parts,” he added.
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
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
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS