Senior members of the US Senate have urged US President Barack Obama to develop and implement a new plan for Taiwan’s military modernization.
“America’s long-standing commitment to Taiwan is a multifaceted and bipartisan effort that includes many components, all of which must be exercised as we seek to support and safeguard the ability of the people of Taiwan to determine their own future,” a letter to the White House said.
Written by US Senator John McCain and senior member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Ben Cardin, the letter strongly supports an increase in arms sales.
“While recent relations between Taiwan and China have been more encouraging, we remain concerned that China’s ongoing military modernization and the threat it poses to peace and security in the Taiwan Strait is not being adequately addressed,” the letter said.
The letter is of particularly significance because it is signed by two senior members of the US Senate and because McCain is chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
The letter acknowledges that bilateral security cooperation is taking place between Taiwan and the US.
“However, we are troubled that it has now been over four years — the longest period since the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in 1979 — since the administration has notified Congress of a new arms sale package,” the letter said.
“The US must continue to further our interests in cross-strait stability — a vital component of which is arms sales — even when doing so brings short-term tensions in our relationship with China,” it added.
McCain and Cardin go on to urge Obama to develop and implement a plan that includes how the administration plans to address Taiwan’s “legitimate requirement” for additional new manned fighters and submarines and other self-defense articles and services.
“Given some of the obstacles with the current approach, we believe that a regular and routine process for the provision of security assistance to Taiwan is essential,” the letter said.
It also said that Taiwan should strive to meet President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 2008 commitment to invest at least 3 percent of its annual GDP in defense.
“We are increasingly concerned that absent a change in defense spending, Taiwan’s military will continue to be under-resourced and unable to make the investments necessary to maintain a credible deterrent across the Strait, especially as its limited defense resources are increasingly constrained by growing military personnel costs,” the letter said.
The letter concludes with a request to “discuss together” how best to support and bolster Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities “including any arms sales under consideration or planned.”
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