The US government is considering a plan to jointly produce weapons with Taiwan, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday, citing three sources.
Washington wants to step up production capacity for US-designed arms and speed up their transfer as part of a move to bolster deterrence against China, Nikkei reported.
The report added that a person with direct knowledge of the US government’s deliberations said discussions had begun, while a different source said it was likely to take some time.
Photo: CNA
Possibilities would include the US providing technology to produce weapons in Taiwan, or producing the weapons in the US using Taiwanese parts, the Nikkei added.
Taiwan’s military would be “fully prepared” for any Chinese invasion whether Beijing decides to move up or push back a purported timeline to attack, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday.
Chiu made the remarks before a meeting at the legislature when asked by the media to comment on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying on Monday that Beijing was determined to annex Taiwan on a “much faster timeline.”
Blinken had been speaking with former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice at an event at Stanford University.
“The military knows what it will have to do, whether in the next second or the next hour, while preparing for war. It will not sit idly by whether Beijing moves up or pushes back [its timeline to invade Taiwan]. It will have its own timeline, and it will pay attention to signs and make forecasts about possible developments accordingly,” the minister said.
Chiu reiterated the need for the military to defend itself if it sustained a “first strike” from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“If someone tries to push you, you must dodge or deflect him,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder on Tuesday said the US would continue to focus on deterring China from taking military action against Taiwan in response to reporters’ questions about whether China had moved up a purported timeline to invade Taiwan.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen last month said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had ordered the PLA to have the capability to take control of Taiwan by force by 2027.
US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl on Aug. 8 said that the Pentagon had not changed its assessment that China would not take Taiwan by force in the next few years.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Ryder was asked whether the Pentagon’s assessment had changed following Blinken’s remarks.
Ryder said that the Pentagon would not speculate on a timeline other than highlighting recent remarks by Xi that China would take Taiwan by force if necessary.
The US’ focus is on preserving stability and security throughout the Indo-Pacific region and would continue to concentrate on “deterring possible military action and calling on both sides to resolve these [sovereignty] issues peacefully” under Washington’s “one China” policy, he said.
In related news, troops stationed in Penghu County conducted live-fire drills early yesterday morning that involved artillery and tanks.
The drills, a standard monthly exercise, began with the firing of flares using 105mm and 155mm howitzers and 81mm and 120mm mortars. Troops also fired .50 cal machine guns and M249 light machine guns.
The drill concluded with M60A3 battle tanks and CM21 armored vehicles firing into the sea in a display of the army’s defensive capabilities.
The exercises were held based on a scenario involving the Chinese military sending warplanes and warships toward Penghu after conducting live-fire drills around Taiwan proper.
This story has been amended since it was first published.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’: Any delay in the passage of the remaining funds would weaken Taiwan’s security and play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, the AIT said While welcoming the Legislative Yuan’s approval of a supplementary defense budget, the US Department of State said that further delays to Taiwan military spending are a “concession” to China. The remarks came after the legislature on Friday passed the budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of military equipment from the US, with total spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion). One package allocates NT$300 billion for arms sales approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, while the other sets aside NT$480 billion for an arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The
RSS