A senior US senator said on Wednesday that US arms sales to Taiwan were hurting closer ties with China and asked US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates what Beijing would have to do for the Pentagon to reconsider the transfers.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told Gates that Chinese leaders had offered to reposition at least some of their military forces opposite Taiwan. An aide said she was referring to an offer that was made in the past and was no longer on the table.
“There is no current offer from China,” her spokesman said after the Senate hearing.
Feinstein, a Democrat, said the redeployment offer had been raised during “my meeting with some of the leadership.”
She visited China and Taiwan earlier this month.
Feinstein did not spell out any details about the offer, telling Gates: “Perhaps some of this I should discuss with you privately.”
Wang Baodong (王寶東), a Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington, said China’s deployment of “defensive forces within its own borders was for safeguarding its territorial integrity and defending its national security.”
“As to the redeployment, it depends on how the situations are evolving,” he said by e-mail without elaborating.
He was responding to a question about Feinstein’s comments.
Feinstein called US arms sales to Taiwan “a substantial irritant” in relations between Washington and Beijing, and predicted they would remain so in the future.
She asked Gates what “substantial” steps China could take to ease its military posture in the Taiwan Strait in a way that would allow Washington to reconsider future arms sales to Taiwan.
“I think there is an opportunity to consider where we go if this across-the-strait situation is stable,” Gates said.
After US President Barack Obama’s administration notified Congress in January of plans to sell Taiwan up to US$6.4 billion in arms, China broke off military-to-military contacts with the US. Earlier this month, China turned down a proposed fence-mending visit by Gates.
Gates cited as justification for the sales factors including what he called an “extraordinary Chinese deployment of all manner of cruise and ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan on the Chinese side of the strait.”
Feinstein responded: “In my meeting with some of the leadership, it was mentioned that China had offered to redeploy back. Now I understand the word ‘redeploy’ isn’t ‘remove.’ And I understand the nature of what’s there and the number of troops.”
Gates said it was up to Congress and the White House to decide whether to change the way arms are sold to Taiwan.
“The bottom line is the decision on Taiwan arms sales is fundamentally a political decision,” Gates said.
Gates said the US was “very concerned” about China’s growing anti-ship cruise and ballistic missile capabilities.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS