Supporters of Taiwan in the US Senate Armed Services Committee added a requirement for a presidential report on the status of the Taiwanese Air Force in next year’s National Defense Authorization Act passed on July 23, the latest edition of Defense News reported.
Defense News quoted Andrew Yang (楊念祖), secretary-general of the Taipei-based Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, as saying that the requirement would likely push for the sale of the 66 F-16C/D fighter aircraft requested by Taiwan in 2006.
The report calls for a “thorough and complete assessment of the current state of Taiwan’s Air Force” and an assessment of the ability of Taiwanese aircraft to repel a “full-scale concerted missile and air campaign by China, Defense News wrote.
“Section 1226, Report on Taiwan’s Air Force,” requires the US president to submit a report to US Congress within 90 days after the date of enactment, the report said.
The report quoted York Chen, a former official at the National Security Council, as saying that “a comprehensive assessment of the Taiwan Air Force required by the Bill is a milestone for both Taipei and Washington to consider seriously the fundamental element for Taiwan military security.”
The report must also include a five-year plan for “fulfilling the obligations of the United States under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide for Taiwan’s self-defense and aid Taiwan in maintaining control of its own air space.”
The addition of the requirement comes on the heels of a US Department of Defense report released on March 25 that concluded that because of rapid modernization of the People’s Liberation Army, the Taiwanese Air Force no longer enjoyed airspace dominance of the Taiwan Strait.
The requirement was absent from the US House of Representative’s version of the bill. However, the two bills will have to be reconciled before being sent to the White House, Defense News wrote.
Meanwhile, in related news, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday urged the US to greenlight Taiwan’s request for the procurement of F-16C/Ds.
The ministry made the remarks in response to a report recently issued by the California-based military think tank RAND Corp.
Despite the easing of political strain across the Taiwan Strait after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to power last year, China has not renounced a military strike against Taiwan, the report said.
If there were to be a military conflict across the Taiwan Strait between next year and 2015, China’s growing Air Force and guided missile arsenal would pose a major threat to Taiwan regardless of US intervention, the report said, suggesting that Taiwan beef up its air defense in respond to potential large-scale missile attacks from China.
“In view of the threats posed by China’s fast-growing air force, the need [for Taiwan] to procure F-16C/Ds has become an ever pressing issue in our air defense work,” a statement issued by the ministry said. “The Ministry of National Defense would like to urge the US to quicken its consent to the procurement of the item so our country could effectively respond to Chinese Communist threats and assure [our] national security.”
SURPRISE GUEST: Media reports identified the visitor as Admiral Michael Studeman, director of the J2, which oversees intelligence at the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command A two-star US Navy admiral overseeing US military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday. The sources, who include a Taiwanese official familiar with the situation, said the official was Rear Admiral Michael Studeman. They were speaking on condition of anonymity. After initially saying on Sunday night that it had no comment about the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it welcomed the visit of an “unidentified US official,” but declined to give more details because the trip “has not been made public.” Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) yesterday
AUTUMN STRUGGLE: The KMT and TPP set up stages on the rally’s sidelines, while Want Want boss Tsai Eng-meng said the DPP was curtailing freedom of speech Tens of thousands of people in Taipei yesterday took part in the “Autumn Struggle” (秋鬥) — an annual protest march by labor groups — but with this year’s focus on rejecting the government’s plan to allow imports of US pork containing ractopamine residue. “Against poisonous pork, against double standards, against a party-state,” the protesters, mostly wearing black, chanted in front of the rally’s main stage on Ketagalan Boulevard at about noon, before a parade set off at 2pm. Autumn Struggle spokesperson Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) said this year’s march was divided into three teams, with the first team urging food safety and labor
DEFENSE: The construction of indigenous submarines will be a testament to the nation’s commitment to safeguard its sovereignty, President Tsai Ing-wen said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the nation’s first indigenous submarine at state-run shipbuilder CSBC Corp’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. “This submarine is an important part of allowing our navy to develop asymmetric warfare and to intimidate and block enemy ships from surrounding Taiwan’s main island,” Tsai said. “With the construction of the submarine to its future commission, we will certainly let the world know our persistence in safeguarding our sovereignty.” Tsai has made boosting the nation’s indigenous defense capacity a central pillar of her defense policy. She recently relaunched the
TIMELINE QUESTIONS: Chen Shih-chung said: ‘If anyone could assure us that we could get the shots in the first quarter of next year, we could set off firecrackers’ Taiwan has secured nearly 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported five new imported infections among travelers from Indonesia and the Philippines. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that Taiwan on Monday signed a procurement contract with a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer and paid a deposit to secure 10 million doses. It was the first contract finalized with a manufacturer and negotiations are under way with three other vaccine makers, Chen said. With the more than 4.6 million doses that can be obtained through the COVAX platform —
RSS