Taiwan's military procurement has come under spotlight amid heated discussions in the wake of the release of the Swaine report, a study by Rand Corporation researcher Michael Swaine on the inadequacies of Taiwan's military security.
There used to be several flaws with Taiwan's military procurement system.
First, advice on the types of weapons and their priority was not based on the requirement of military missions and objectives.
Second, although the national defense department had to follow certain purchase procedures such as "equipment requirement," "system analysis" and "investment guideline," -- the system was still easily manipulated by high ranking military officials, who took charge of the decision-making, and their staff, who were responsible for system analysis and purchasing.
In addition, their purchasing requests were rarely denied by a civilian president. Given this situation, the chief of the general staff and the general commander were actually the ones who determined what weapons to buy.
Third, the policies of US government and pressure by arms dealers on the US Congress and the administration also determined what weapons were made available to Taiwan.
Without any long-term military objectives or premeditated plan for procurement and production of equipment, and given the above procedures, it has been difficult for Taiwan to make full use of the high-tech weapons it purchased.
We could obtain parts for the weaponry we buy, but the training of operation and maintenance personnel, the operation software and the technology transfer and repair systems are still controlled by the sellers.
Take the Patriot missile system as an example. The military officers sent to the US for the missile delivery were not chosen for their English proficiency or their expertise in related areas. So the Patriot operation manual had to be translated by military personnel with university electronic engineering degrees. The translation was therefore incomplete and consequently had a negative impact on the position calibration and arrangement of the missile, as well as logistics and the maintenance system.
The M-48H tank has been in service for nearly ten years and we still have not obtained its fire control technology, which is kept by the US. The Chinese language version of the operation manual has not come out for our troops to use either.
Similar problems have occurred with the French-made Lafayette frigates. There are numerous mistakes in the Chinese language operation manual and there is no Chinese version of the maintenance manual. We can't help but doubt the navy's maintenance capability for these frigates.
Due to a lack of new fighters to supplement the old ones, we have spent an enormous sum of money developing the IDF (Indigenous Defense Fighter). The IDF is being produced by Hanshing Aviation (
But the purchases of F-16 and Mirage planes from abroad have put the future of Hanshing Aviation in jeopardy. This redundant investment has wasted public funds for decades and we are sick of it.
Solutions to these problems have been suggested in the recently revised National Defense Law.
The Department of Military Strategic Projects will be responsible for providing the framework of national military strategies according to military objectives.
According to these strategies, the Military Command Department will conduct personnel training and detail the needed equipment and the their purchase priority.
The Armament Department will produce evaluation reports based on our purchasing power and our ability to produce items.
The defense ministry will then cooperate with the Evaluation Office to gather the information necessary to produce purchase advisories, taking the domestic political and economic situation into consideration.
Lastly, the defense minister will make the final decision on procurement. In this way, irresponsible, careless decision-making will be avoided.
In addition, having a civilian defense minister making the final decision and taking responsibility for his choice is in the spirit of giving responsibility over military affairs to the political and civilian leadership.
Under the new version of the National Defense Law the defense ministry is obliged to produce reports on several topics. The same obligation is specified in the National Defense White Paper of Japan.
Japan's defense ministry has to produce reports on issues such as the international political and military situation, national defense policy, and the relation between the people and national defense.
This system means not only is military procurement monitored by the Japanese parliament, but the confidence of the Japanese people in their national defense is boosted.
Since our defense department has put a lot of energy into promoting the passage of the National Defense Law, we believe substantive measures to improve our overall defense system must be under way.
Despite good intentions, a system cannot prevail unless it is implemented by a capable administration. We hope that in the near future, the requisition of defense equipment will meet our military objectives and weapon procurement will follow systemized procedures.
There used to be several drawbacks to Taiwan's military procurement. On the one hand, we spent a lot of time and money on developing our own weaponry in order to demonstrate our strength. But then we gave up the whole assembly line process when western countries agreed to sell similar weapons to us.
On the other hand, defense equipment has been purchased in the past regardless of technology transfer issues or supply and maintainance problems.
Similar mistakes should not be allowed to take place again.
We hope that the defense ministry will make military procurement more transparent and issue detailed, accurate reports, so national defense issues will be monitored and made open to the public.
This will establish the people's confidence in our national defense system and the future development of our country.
Li Wen-chung is a DPP legislator.
For Taipei, last year was a particularly dangerous period, with China stepping up coercive pressures on Taiwan amid signs of US President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, which eventually led his Democratic Party to force him to abandon his re-election campaign. The political drift in the US bred uncertainty in Taiwan and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region about American strategic commitment and resolve. With America deeply involved in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the last thing Washington wanted was a Taiwan Strait contingency, which is why Biden invested in personal diplomacy with China’s dictator Xi Jinping (習近平). The return of
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long been a cornerstone of US foreign policy, advancing not only humanitarian aid but also the US’ strategic interests worldwide. The abrupt dismantling of USAID under US President Donald Trump ‘s administration represents a profound miscalculation with dire consequences for global influence, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. By withdrawing USAID’s presence, Washington is creating a vacuum that China is eager to fill, a shift that will directly weaken Taiwan’s international position while emboldening Beijing’s efforts to isolate Taipei. USAID has been a crucial player in countering China’s global expansion, particularly in regions where
Looking at the state of China’s economy this year, many experts have said that weak domestic demand and insufficient internal consumption might be its Achilles’ heel, with the latter being related to culture and demographics. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office in 2013, he has been combating extravagance and corruption as well as rectifying a bad atmosphere. China expert Stephen Roach said the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) regulatory crackdown has been targeting Chinese tycoons, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma (馬雲), and opposing what the CCP defines as “excessively extravagant lifestyles,” such as playing too
With the manipulations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), it is no surprise that this year’s budget plan would make government operations difficult. The KMT and the TPP passing malicious legislation in the past year has caused public ire to accumulate, with the pressure about to erupt like a volcano. Civic groups have successively backed recall petition drives and public consensus has reached a fever-pitch, with no let up during the long Lunar New Year holiday. The ire has even breached the mindsets of former staunch KMT and TPP supporters. Most Taiwanese have vowed to use
RSS